Stakeholder roundtable on feasibility of China’s accession to UPOV ‘91

The IP Key Project and China’s Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and State Forestry Administration (SFA) are holding a Stakeholder roundtable on feasibility of China’s accession to UPOV ‘91 on May 31st 2016 at the Ministry of Agriculture’s headquarters in Beijing. The roundtable is one part of ongoing research for a feasibility study on China’s potential accession to UPOV ‘91 that IP Key is facilitating for a team of Chinese researchers selected by the MoA and SFA.

The May 31st 2016 roundtable will include representatives from EU firms operating in China, members of the UPOV ‘91 accession study team, MoA and SFA officials, among others. The roundtable provides a relaxed/semi-structured setting to allow the Chinese study team to understand different viewpoints about the benefits and other impacts of acceding to UPOV ‘91 and potential ways to accede to the treaty.  

Tentative agenda is as follows:

1:30-2:00 – Registration

2:00-2:10 – Opening remarks (MoA official)

2:00-2:20 – Opening remarks (SFA official)

2:20-2:45 – Overview of China’s past research and plan for future research on China’s potential accession to UPOV ‘91 (Feasibility Study Team Leader)

2:45-3:00 – Tea break

3:00-5:30 – Semi-structured discussion with participants (moderated by Feasibility Study Team Leader):

• Importance of plant variety protection rights in the absence of patent protection for plants; differences between patent protection and plant varieties protection
• How accession to UPOV ’91 might enable EU and Chinese firms to contribute more to the Chinese economy
• Recommendations on legal and institutional measures to magnify the potential positive economic, social, and environmental gains to UPOV ‘91
• Recommendations on ways to limit possible negative impacts on accession to UPOV ‘91
• Recommendations in terms of changes in China’s laws, regulations, and institutions to facilitate China’s accession to UPOV ‘91; and other, more general recommendations, related to developing China’s plant variety protection system

The roundtable is not open to the public, rather attendance is by invite only. Contact Dan Prud’homme dan.prudhomme@ipkey.organd Grace Gao grace@ipkey.org  about attending the event if you are a European firm conducting R&D on, and/or producing goods or services involving, plant varieties.