TWN Info Service on Intellectual Property Issues
(Apr17/05)
26 April 2017
Third World Network
Dear all,
Below is an Open Letter to the Director General of the African Regional
Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO) on the Draft Regulations to the
Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.
This Open Letter (see below) highlights that the ARIPO Administrative
Council, which met in Harare, from 5th to 7th December 2016, did not adopt the
Draft Regulations to the Arusha Protocol at the time in view of the concerns
CSOs and farmers have raised and the need for wide consultations with
stakeholders.
However despite this development, the ARIPO Secretariat has totally refused to
communicate with African CSOs and farmers and to hold credible consultations on
the Arusha Protocol and its Draft Regulations.
The letter calls on the ARIPO DG to provide African CSOs and farmers with
all information on the next steps that will be undertaken with regard to the
Arusha Protocol and its Draft Regulations including any further draft
Regulations being developed by the technical committees.
The letter also calls on ARIPO DG to take immediate steps to establish a
credible, transparent and participatory process that involves and engages with
CSOs and farmer representatives in discussions on the Arusha Protocol and its
Draft Regulations. In this regard the CSOs and farmer organisations have
requested an urgent meeting with the ARIPO DG.
With regards
Sangeeta Shashikant
Third World Network
OPEN LETTER TO THE DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE AFRICAN REGIONAL
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY ORGANIZATION (ARIPO)
[by The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), African Centre for
Biodiversity (ACB) and Participatory Ecological Land Use (PELUM) Association]
11th April 2017
Mr. F. A. Dos Santos
The Director General
The African Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO)
11 Natal Road, Belgravia
Harare, Zimbabwe
Dear Sir,
Draft Regulations to the Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Varieties
of Plants
We the undersigned organizations, representing civil society organizations
(CSOs) and farmers of our networks call on you to urgently provide in writing,
full information on the outcomes of the Administrative Council with regard to
the Draft Regulations to the Arusha Protocol.
We have been made aware that the Administrative Council, which met in Harare,
from 5th to 7th December 2016, did not adopt the Draft Regulations to the
Arusha Protocol at the time in view of the concerns CSOs and farmers have
raised and the need for wide consultations with stakeholders.
Noting this development, we once again call on you to establish a credible
process that includes and engages CSOs and farmer representatives in
discussions on the Arusha Protocol and the Draft Regulations.
CSOs and farmer representatives have always sought to engage meaningfully with
your office to ensure that the design of the regional plant variety protection
system is one that works for the ARIPO region and reflects its needs and
realities. In this regard we have made numerous submissions and proposals on
the Protocol as well as the Draft Regulations. Prior to the Administrative
Council in December 2016, CSOs and farmer representatives submitted detailed
comments on the Draft Regulations to be considered by the Council. (1)
However, it is deeply regrettable that the ARIPO Secretariat has ignored the
submissions as well as denied the numerous requests for CSOs and farmer
representatives to participate in theprocess and present their comments,
despite the very valid concerns that exist with regard to the Draft
Regulations.
It is well known that the process leading to the development of the Arusha
Protocol was flawed. The ARIPO Secretariat facilitated participation of foreign
entities, but at the same time refused to allow civil society and farmer
representatives from the ARIPO region the right to engage in the process. (2)
On 5th December 2016, CSOs and farmer representatives were once again barred
from attending the Administrative Council that discussed the Draft Regulations
to the Arusha Protocol. (3)
Following the Administrative Council meeting, PELUM Association - on behalf of
CSOs and farmer representatives, sent emails (i.e. on 14 December and on 11
January 2017) and made several telephone calls requesting information on the
outcomes of the Administrative Council. However, to date we have
not received any response from your office. On occasions when telephone calls
were answered, we were informed that individuals who could give a response were
out of the office, and we never received a call back from the responsible
officers.
In addition, your office has not made any attempts to share the outcomes using
the mainstream media or your official website. As such, ARIPO has imposed a
communication black out.
The deliberate lack of communication on your part, and the exclusion and
undermining of the role played by CSOs and farmer representatives in positively
developing Africa demonstrates your organization’s lack of commitment to
practice good governance particularly concerning principles of participation,
transparency, responsiveness, accountability, equality and inclusiveness.
We recall that in an open letter dated 24th November 2016, the Special
Rapporteur on the right to food, Ms. Hilal Elver, expressed concerns with
regard to the considerable negative impacts that the Protocol and its Draft
Regulations may have in relation to fulfilling the right to food in ARIPO
Member State countries. Ms. Elver also urged ARIPO Members to refrain from
endorsing and/or ratifying the Arusha Protocol and adopting the Draft
regulations for its implementation and to begin a new process that is
transparent, evidence based and inclusive of civil society and smallholder
farmer representatives to overhaul the Protocol and the draft Regulations and
to develop a new legal framework that is appropriate for the agricultural
system that prevails in the ARIPO region, and which reflects the needs and
interests especially of farmer managed seeds systems in the ARIPO region.
Thus, we would like to formally call on the ARIPO Secretariat:
1. To immediately provide the undersigned organizations full information in
writing on the outcomes of the Administrative Council with regard to the Draft
Regulations to the Arusha Protocol. This includes a copy of the minutes and
decisions taken on the matter at the Administrative Council.
2. To immediately provide the undersigned organizations full information in
writing on the next steps that will be undertaken with regard to the Arusha
Protocol and its Draft Regulations.
3. To provide the undersigned organisations in a timely manner, copies of all
relevant documents being developed including any further draft Regulations being
developed by technical committees;
4. To ensure that henceforth all information (e.g. on process and substance)
concerning the Arusha Protocol and its Draft Regulations be made available
promptly on the front page of ARIPO’s website.
5. To take immediate steps to establish a credible, transparent and
participatory process that involves and engages with CSOs and farmer
representatives in discussions on the Arusha Protocol and its Draft
Regulations. In this regard we would request an urgent meeting with you.
Given the importance of agriculture to the ARIPO region and the critical role
of CSOs and farmers in the development of agriculture in the region, it is of
utmost importance that ARIPO takes prompt steps to realize the above. We look
forward to hearing from you urgently.
Yours sincerely
Ms. Mariam Mayet from ACB and on behalf of Ms. Gertrude Pswarayi-Jabson and Dr.
Million Belay
The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), African Centre for
Biodiversity (ACB) and Participatory Ecological Land Use (PELUM) Association
Cc. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
ARIPO Member States as well as the Permanent Missions of ARIPO Members in
Geneva
(1) http://acbio.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/ARIPO_regs_comments.pdf
(2) See Open Letter to the Members of the International
Union For the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) available at http://afsafrica.org/open-letter-to-members-of-the-international-union-for-the-protection-of-new-varieties-of-plants-upov-2/
(3) http://acbio.org.za/african-civil-society-and-farmer-representatives-blocked-from-aripo-deliberations-on-regional-seed-pvp-law/
