Downstream of a Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement

If a TPP agreement should ever mange to become a reality there is bound to be a number of downstream effects. There is one however that has already come to light, the TPP requirements for intellectual property mean that our current  1987 legislation relating to ‘Plant Variety Rights’ would have to be updated.

‘The International Union for Protection of New Varieties of Plants’ known as ‘UPOV’,  updated the legislation relating to PVR in 1991 but New Zealand never ratified or adopted that update which has become known as UPOV91.

The ‘NZ grain & Seed Trade Association’ led by Thomas Chin the general manager is now pushing for the government to act and update our legislation and adopt UPOV91 and align with our major trading partners. Any new legislation would need to reflect the TPP agreement and clarify Maori interests. A meeting of interested parties has already been held in Wellington on 19^th August 15.

The flower industry is very involved with this legislation at the plant breeding end as we pay the Intellectual Property [IP] rights in the form of ‘Plant Variety Rights’  [PVR] on most new varieties. Research and development work on new varieties needs sufficient funding for it to be innovative.