The Council of Agriculture (COA) said commercial infringements of plant variety right can be effectively prevented and make most variety right losses avoidable by signing a cross-strait agreement and setting up a communication platform, so Taiwan and China have to establish immediately a channel of negotiations for the agreement on plant variety right protection. The Council will negotiate to reconcile different regulations on farmer immunity in meetings working on plant variety rights to actively protect Taiwan breeders’ claims in mainland China . Without the agreement, breeders of infringed plant varieties will have no channel or opportunity to make a claim. In order to protect Taiwan ’s quality plant variety rights, signing a cross-strait agreement is necessary and urgently needed, noted the COA.

The Council pointed out that 44 members of the 68-nation International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) have legislations protecting plant variety rights based on the 1991 text of the UPOV Convention, but the other 24 countries including China, France, Canada, Mexico and New Zealand still adhere to the 1978 text. Since other countries have different regulations on immunity for farmers who keep some seeds of new variety for their own use, Taiwan has to negotiate with them. Because Taiwan and China have adopted different text of the UPOV Convention, the two sides can reconcile their differences via the platform of cross-strait working meetings on plant variety right. And the Council will negotiate for the expansion of plant varieties being protected by China to include such quality Taiwan plants as Oncidium, enhancing the protection of Taiwan breeders’ interests.

Plant variety right belongs to the country where it grows and the breeder must apply to the country for the protection of his right to the plant variety, explained the COA. After several years of negotiations the Council has reached an agreement with the 27-nation European Union, the United States, Japan and Australia to accept plant variety right applications filed by citizens or corporate persons from the other country. But plant varieties being protected by Taiwan can not get legal protection in China because of the special political relations between the two sides for a very long time.

As cross-strait economic and trade cooperation and exchange of agricultural products have become increasingly frequent, both sides have to protect their plant variety rights against infringement. After the two sides signed Cross-Strait Agreement on Intellectual Property Right Protection on June 29, quality Taiwan farm crop varieties can apply for protection by combining plant variety right with trademark right, preventing “pirate” Taiwan fruits from infringing Taiwan breeders’ intellectual property right in China .