The purpose of this Bill is to set up a legal structure whereby exclusive proprietary rights can be afforded to plant breeders for new plant varieties. The Bill provides that any such rights granted will be protected against infringment and affords equal treatment for Irish plant breeders and breeders from countries party to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
The concept of plant breeders' rights has been established for many years. Seven of the other eight member states of the EEC are party to the convention—the exception being Luxembourg where no plant breeding is carried out. Altogether 12 countries have acceded to the convention and a number of other countries including the United States, Canada and New Zealand are proposing to do so in the near future.
It is essential that the creation of new plant varieties continues in order to obtain higher yields, better quality and security of crops from the hazards of weather and disease. A new plant variety is the result of a substantial investment of human skill and resources for periods as long as 15 years. Plant breeders are no different from creators of other intellectual property—which can be protected by copyrights and patents—and breeders can only be expected to undertake such expensive and time-consuming work if they can be satisfied that the results of their work cannot be pirated. Without the kind of system envisaged here the likelihood is that plant breeders could expect little return for their work because their propagating material could be freely used for the production of further propagating material for commercial use. The concept of breeders' rights has evolved in order to protect breeders from this kind of exploitation. Breeders would be granted a right whereby, for a period not exceeding 25 years, propagating material of their new plant varieties could only be produced or marketed as such with the breeders' prior authorisation.
Some individual countries have established their own breeders' rights systems but the more common, and in my view the most satisfactory method, is to adopt the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. Countries party to this Convention constitute the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants—known as UPOV—which administers the convention. In order to be in a position to ratify the convention, a country must enact legislation which contains the principles laid down in the convention and the purpose of this Bill is, essentially, to enshrine in our national legislation this system of protection of plant breeders' rights.
Almost all the countries from which we obtain seeds or plant material are, or are proposing to become, members of UPOV. The EEC Commission recommend that all member states accede to the convention and take a particular interest in the work of UPOV. The two bodies are at present co-operating towards achieving harmonised systems of plant variety testing with a view to minimising both the workload and financial costs for the countries involved.
There has been increasing pressure from Irish interests for the establishment of a rights system in accordance with the UPOV Convention. Our plant breeders are justified in seeking protection against infringement of their rights for any plant varieties they create. I would hope this legislation would have the effect of encouraging more breeding work in Ireland. A further consideration is our dependence on foreign varieties for our main agricultural crops such as cereals and grasses. Most of the useful new varieties of these species are protected under the UPOV system, and we have been very fortunate in being able to avail of them up to now under what might be termed ad hoc arrangements because it was generally known that we proposed to join UPOV. However, there are serious grounds for concern that, if we do not now press ahead and actually join, then some foreign breeders would not be prepared to continue to allow us use of their varieties. Accordingly, there are, I feel, compelling reasons for this legislation—protection and encouragement for Irish plant breeding interests and easier access to foreign varieties of seeds and plant material.
During the Bill's passage through the Dáil some mention was made of the possible effect of this type of legislation on the genetic resources of the Third World. However, I can assure the House that the existence of plant breeders' rights legislation as such is totally unconnected with the genetic resources position. Many high-yielding plant varieties which would almost certainly not have been developed in the absence of a plant breeders' rights system, have contributed substantially to world food supplies. The very fact that less developed countries have been able to take advantage of these new varieties in my view effectively answers critics who suggest that plant breeders' rights legislation makes it impossible for Third World countries to avail of developments in plant breeding.
On the question of maintaining genetic resources, a number of individual countries and also some international organisations such as FAO and the EEC are already involved in setting up gene banks which will help to preserve "old" varieties that may be in danger of being lost.
I should now like to make a few specific remarks about this Bill. As I have already mentioned, it is based on the principles of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. The convention was signed on behalf of Ireland on 27 September last subject to ratification after the enactment of the necessary legislation.
The main provisions in the Bill are:
Countries party to the convention will be recognised as having a special status in regard to plant breeders' rights.
A breeder granted rights will for a specified period have the sole authority to produce the plant variety for the purpose of commercial marketing. He will also have exclusive rights in so far as the export or import of any reproductive material of the variety is concerned. The breeder may transfer these rights to others on conditions which he may specify, just as in the case of any other property. In the exercise of their rights breeders will, in turn, have a duty to ensure that their varieties are made available on reasonable terms and are maintained true to the characteristics which originally qualified them for rights. If a breeder is considered to have abused his rights—for example, by imposing unreasonable restrictions on authorisation or if the public interest so requires, then it is open to an aggrieved party to apply for a compulsory licence.
The Bill lays down precise criteria for grant of rights and a variety must be distinct from others of the same species, must be uniform and stable in its reproduction and, subject to some transitional arrangements, must not have been previously commercialised outside certain periods.
Provision is made for the establishment of a body corporate to be called the Office of the Controller of Plant Breeders' Rights to administer the rights system. The Minister for Agriculture will appoint a Controller of Plant Breeders' Rights who will be responsible for the day-to-day operation of the system. The office of the controller will be somewhat similar to the existing Patents Office. It is hoped that eventually the system will be self-financing but this will depend on demand. The technical and scientific work of evaluating applications for rights would be integrated into the seed variety testing arrangements at present conducted by my Department and the administration of the system would also be undertaken by my Department.
There is provision in the Bill for appeals relating to decisions by the controller and for objections and representatives as regards applications to the controller for surrender, revocation, assignment and so on of rights.
All the interests concerned with plant breeding in Ireland have been consulted and their views taken into account. The immediate aim is to introduce a rights system of suitably modest proportions to meet our needs. While rights under the Bill may be applied to varieties of any botanical species, it is our intention initially to confine rights to varieties of wheat, oats, barley, potatoes, ryegrass and white clover.
I commend this Bill to the House.
