Canada must update and strengthen its law on plant breeders’ rights to make the seed industry attractive for investment, seed trade officials recently told MPs.
“Canada, with its plant breeders’ rights law, has dropped a little behind the world,” Bruce Hunter, of Novartis Seeds Inc., Plattsville, Ont., told the House of Commons agriculture committee.
Along with Bill Leask, executive vice-president of the Canadian Seed Trade Association, he argued that the lack of legal protection for the products of seed research deters investment.
In addition, Canada has not met its commitment to update its plant breeders’ rights protections to the standards of a 1991 international agreement, he said.
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And it is time for Canada to provide the greater protection that patenting of plant varieties would give.
More investment
These changes would open the Canadian seed industry to more international investment, they argued before MPs.
“Although there are many tools seed companies need to conduct their business, we feel changes to patent options and plant breeders’ rights are the most critical,” said Leask. “Addressing these needs will do the most to bring Canada into line with our trading partners and open the door for Canadian industry to be a more effective competitor in international markets.”
The plant breeders’ rights legislation was approved by Parliament 15 years ago over some strong protests. It allows a system of royalties to developers of new or improved varieties.
The two seed industry officials told the Commons committee that a planned review of the plant breeders’ rights legislation in 2000 should do three things:
- Give the courts greater latitude to assess damages against someone selling seed covered by plant breeders’ rights protection without paying the royalty.
- Allow faster approval of plant breeders’ rights protections for varieties from other countries where international standards exist.
- Simplify existing information requirements and give an industry advisory committee more say into plant breeders’ rights rules and operations.
Leask and Hunter said Canada should make these changes domestically and make more uniform international rules on plant breeders’ rights one of the goals in upcoming world trade talks.
