IP/C/W/591/Add.6  
 
24 October 2013  
(13-5894)  Page: 1/8  
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights  Original: English  
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: INFORMATION FROM  
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS 
INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR THE PROTECTION OF  
NEW VARIETIES OF PLANTS (UPOV) 
Addendum 
At its meeting of 11-12 June 2013, the Council for TRIPS agreed to invite intergovernmental 
organization observers to the Council to update the information on their technical and financial cooperation programmes relating to the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement. 
 
The present document reproduces the information which has been received from the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) by means of a communication dated 
9 October 2013. 
 
_______________ 
 
 UPOV’s mission is to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection, with the aim of encouraging the development of new vari eties of plants, for the benefit of society. 
 
Information on membership of  UPOV can be found at:  http://www.upov.int/members/en/   
 
The main objectives of UPOV are, in accordance with the UPOV Convention, to: 
 
– provide and develop the legal, administrative and technical basis for international 
cooperation in plant variety protection; 
– assist States and organizations in the development of legislation and the 
implementation of an effective plant variety protection system; and 
– enhance public awareness and understanding of the UPOV system of plant variety 
protection. 
 
Information on the technical and financial cooperation programs of UPOV in relation to UPOV’s 
objectives is provided as follows: 
 Assistance to States and Organizations in the deve lopment of legislation and the implementation of 
an effective plant variety protection system 
 
Annex I to this report provides information on UPOV’s activities in relation to the development of legislation and the implementation of an effective plant variety protection system for the period 
2012-2013. 
 International Cooperation 
 Annex II to this report provides information on international cooperation facilitated by UPOV.  
Annex III contains a list of acronyms used in this report. IP/C/W/591/Add.6 
 
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  ANNEX 11 
UPOV’S ACTIVITIES IN RELATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF LEGISLATION AND THE 
IMPLEMENTATION OF AN EFFECTIVE PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION SYSTEM  
FOR THE PERIOD 2012-2013 
Objectives:  
  To raise awareness of the role of plant variety protection according to the 
UPOV Convention 
 To assist States and organizations, particularly governments of developing 
countries and countries in transition to a market economy, in the 
development of legislation in accordance with the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention. 
 To assist States and organizations in their accession to the 1991 Act of the 
UPOV Convention. 
 To assist States and organizations in implementing an effective plant variety 
protection system in accordance with the UPOV Convention. 
 
1  COMMENTS PROVIDED ON LAWS OR DRAFT LAWS: 
Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Egypt, Ghana, Lao People's 
Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, 
Thailand, United Arab Emirates, United Re public of Tanzania, Zimbabwe and ARIPO. 
 2  UPOV AWARENESS-RAISING ACTIVITIES, OR ACTIVITIES INVOLVING UPOV STAFF OR 
UPOV TRAINERS ON BEHALF OF UPOV STAFF  
 Seminars on plant variety protection, Lima, Trujillo and Iquitos, Peru (January 2012) 
 OECD Seed Scheme meetings, Paris, France (January 2012) 
 Annual General Meeting of the International Community of Breeders of Asexually Reproduced 
Ornamental and Fruit Varieties (CIOPORA) Miami, United States of America (April 2012) 
 CIOPORA International Intellectual Property Confer ence, Miami, United States of America (April 
2012) 
 Study tour and related meetings for high-ranking officials responsible for plant variety 
protection, Tokyo, Chiba, Tsukuba and Hachimantai, Japan (January/February 2012) 
 Twentieth session of WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and 
Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Fo lklore (IGC), Geneva, Switzerland (February 
2012) 
 Plant Variety Protection Awareness Raising Seminar, Phnom Penh, Cambodia (February 2012) 
 Workshop on Plant Breeder’s Rights, Patents and Access to Biodiversity and Genetic 
Resources, Pattaya, Thailand (February 2012) 
 Pre-AFSTA Congress Workshop on Plant Variety Protection, Zanzibar, United Republic of 
Tanzania (March 2012) 
 AFSTA Annual Congress, Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania (March 2012) 
 WIPO-WTO Advanced Course on Intellectual Pr operty for Government Officials, Geneva, 
Switzerland (March 2012) 
 Conference on Plant Breeders’ Rights and UPOV Membership, Belgrade, Serbia (April 2012) 
 USPTO/UPOV Training Course “Plant Variety Protection under the UPOV Convention”, 
Alexandria, Virginia, United States of America (April 2012) 
 Annual General Meeting of the International Community of Breeders of Asexually Reproduced 
Ornamental and Fruit Varieties (CIOPORA), Miami, United States of America (April 2012) 
 CIOPORA International Intellectual Property Co nference, Miami, United States of America 
(April 2012) 
                                               
1 In English only. IP/C/W/591/Add.6 
 
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   Workshop on the Implementation and Raising Awareness of Plant Variety Protection, Muscat, 
Oman (May 2012) 
 SLU/Sida Training session on plant variety protection as part of the “Genetic Resources and 
Intellectual Property Rights Course” (GRI P Course), Uppsala, Sweden (May 2012) 
 WIPO’s “Intellectual Property, Innovation and Food Security:  Workshop for Sustainable Wheat 
Production in East Africa – A Case Study on the Role of Intellectual Property”, Geneva, 
Switzerland (May 2012) 
 Fifth East Asia Plant Variety Protection Foru m (EAPVP Forum) Meeting, Bangkok, Thailand 
(May 2012) 
 EAPVP Forum International Seminar on Impact of Plant Variety Protection, Bangkok, Thailand 
(May 2012) 
 WIPO Course on Introduction to International Intellectual Property Law, Geneva, Switzerland 
(June 2012) 
 Expert Review Meeting on the ARIPO Draft Legal Framework on the Protection of New Varieties 
of Plants, Harare, Zimbabwe (June 2012) 
 Fifteenth International Course on Plant Variety Protection (Naktuinbouw), Wageningen, 
Netherlands (June 2012) 
 WIPO-WTO Colloquium for Teachers of Intellect ual Property, Geneva, Switzerland (June 2012) 
 WIPO Interregional Intermediate Seminar on  Industrial Property, Geneva, Switzerland 
(June 2012) 
 World Seed Congress 2012 (ISF), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (June 2012) 
 Second meeting of the Open-ended Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Committee on Access to 
Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (ICNP-2), New Delhi, India (July 2012) 
 IDLO Course on “Technology Licensing for Developing Countries: Dos and Don’ts”, Rome, Italy 
(July 2012) 
 WIPO Summer School on Intellectual Property, Geneva, Switzerland (July 2012) 
 Twenty-second session of WIPO’s Intergovernm ental Committee on Intellectual Property and 
Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), Geneva, Switzerland (July 2012) 
 OECD Seed Scheme meetings, Helsinki, Finland (July 2012) 
 KOICA/KSVS Training Course on “Plant Variety Protection and DUS Testing”, Seoul, Republic of 
Korea (July 2012) 
 Master Program of Intellectual Property Law of the Queensland University of Technology 
(QUT), Brisbane, Australia (July 2012) 
 Meeting to discuss the options for the establishmen t and intended activities of a “Platform for 
the Co-Development and Transfer of Technologies ” within the context of the ITPGRFA, Brasilia, 
Brazil (August 2012) 
 XXIII Pan-American Seed Congress, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (Plurinational State of) 
(August 2012) 
 JICA Training Course on “Internationally Ha rmonized Plant Variety Protection System”, 
Tsukuba, Japan (September 2012) 
 Fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), 
Yaoundé, Cameroon (September 2012) 
 Sixth International Conference on Intellectual Property Rights in Agriculture, Amman, Jordan 
(September 2012) 
 Annual Symposium of the Department of Agricu lture of Sri Lanka, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka 
(September 2012) 
 SLU/Sida Training session on plant variety protection as part of the “Genetic Resources and 
Intellectual Property Rights Course” (GRIP Course), Uppsala, Sweden (September 2012) 
 Meeting with members of the International Commission for the Nomenclature of Cultivated 
Plants of the International Union for Biological Sciences (IUBS Commission), London, United 
Kingdom (October 2012) 
 CIOPORA-JATAFF Joint Symposium on Plant Variety Protection in Asia, Tokyo, Japan 
(October 2012) IP/C/W/591/Add.6 
 
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   NCSS/MAFF training course on DUS for EAPVP ex perts, Kasaoka, Okayama prefecture, Japan 
(October 2012) 
 European Seed Association (ESA) Annual Meeting, including the ESA General Assembly and 
Board Dinner, Brussels, Belgium (October 2012) 
 GNIS Study tour dinner-meeting for high-ranking officials from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines 
and Thailand, Paris, France (October 2012) 
 WIPO National Seminar on the Impact of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) on Research, 
Maputo, Mozambique (October 2012) 
 APSA Asian Seed Congress, Bali, Indonesia (November 2012) 
 Fifth Ministerial Meeting on Agriculture and Regional Programme for Food Security (RPFS) of 
the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and Second Donors’ Conference, Antalya, 
Turkey (November 2012) 
 Sixth Session of the Intergovernmental Technical Working Group on Plant Genetic Resources 
for Food and Agriculture (ITWG-PGRFA) of the FAO Commission on Genetic Resources for Food 
and Agriculture (CGRFA), Rome, Italy (November 2012) 
 Meeting of the GRUR Expert Committee on the Protection of Plant Varieties, Munich, Germany 
(November 2012) 
 Thirty-Sixth Session of ARIPO’s Administrative Council, Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania 
(November 2012) 
 XI Training Course for Ibero-American Countries on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, 
Montevideo, Uruguay (December 2012) 
 PVP Awareness Raising Seminar, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar (December 2012) 
 OECD Seed Scheme meetings, Paris, France (January 2013) 
 Twenty-third session of WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and 
Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Fo lklore (IGC), Geneva, Switzerland (February 
2013) 
 PVP System Awareness Raising Seminar, Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic 
(February 2013) 
 AFSTA Annual Congress, Mauritius (March 2013) 
 WIPO-WTO Advanced Course on Intellectual Pr operty for Government Officials, Geneva, 
Switzerland (March 2013) 
 Lecture on UPOV and Protection of New Varieties of Plants under the UPOV Convention to 
senior officials from the Seychelles, Geneva, Switzerland (March 2013) 
 Fourteenth Session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture 
(CGRFA), Rome, Italy (April 2013) 
 Technical Working Group Meeting of the OECD Forest Seed and Plant Scheme, Verona, Italy 
(April 2013) 
 Twenty-fourth session of WIPO’s Intergovernm ental Committee on Intellectual Property and 
Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), Geneva, Switzerland (April 
2013) 
 TAIEX National Workshop on Plant Variet y Rights, Baku, Azerbaijan (May 2013) 
 SLU/Sida Training session on plant variety protection as part of the “Genetic Resources and 
Intellectual Property Rights Course” (GRI P Course), Uppsala, Sweden (May 2013) 
 World Seed Congress 2013 (ISF), Athens, Greece (May 2013) 
 Consultation meeting to promote a public-private partnership in pre-breeding, Rome, Italy 
(May 2013) 
 OECD Seed Scheme meetings, Paris, France (June 2013) 
 Thirtieth ISTA Congress, Antalya, Turkey (June 2013) 
 Sixteenth International Course on Plant Variety Protection (Naktuinbouw), Wageningen, 
Netherlands (June 2013) 
 WIPO-WTO Colloquium for Teachers of Intellect ual Property, Geneva, Switzerland (June 2013) 
 WIPO-UNIGE Summer School on Intellectual Property, Geneva, Switzerland (June 2013) 
 ITPGRFA Platform for the Co-Development and Transfer of Technologies, Bandung, Indonesia 
(June/July 2013) IP/C/W/591/Add.6 
 
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   Regional Seminar on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants under the UPOV Convention, 
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (July 2013) 
 Visit to the Brunei Intellectual Property Office (BruIPO), Bandar, Brunei Darussalam (July 
2013) 
 National Seminar on the Examination of New Plant Varieties, Port of Spain, Trinidad and 
Tobago (July 2013) 
 Sixth Annual Meeting of the East Asia Plant Variety Protection Forum (EAPVP Forum) and 
Symposium on Plant Variety Protection entitled “Regional Cooperation towards International 
Harmonization in Plant Variety Protection”, Kuching, Malaysia (July 2013) 
 KOICA/KSVS Training Course on “Plant Variet y Protection and DUS Testing”, Seongnam City, 
Republic of Korea (July 2013) 
 Twenty-fifth session of WIPO’s Intergovernm ental Committee on Intellectual Property and 
Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC), Geneva, Switzerland (July 2013) 
 WIPO-QUT Master Program of Intellectual Property Law, Brisbane, Australia (July 2013) 
 VI International Symposium on the Taxonomy of Cultivated Plants (ISTCP 2013), Beijing, 
China (July 2013) 
 International Commission for the Nomenclature of Cultivated Plants of the International Union 
for Biological Sciences (IUBS Commission), Beijing, China (July 2013) 
 Regional Workshop on the ARIPO Draft Legal Framework for the Protection of New Varieties of 
Plants, and Experts Meeting concerning the Re commendations of the ARIPO Administrative 
Council on the Draft Legal Framework, Lilongwe, Malawi (July 2013) 
 WIPO/OIPI Seminar on “Intellectual Property and Innovation in Côte d’Ivoire”, Abidjan, Côte 
d’Ivoire (July 2013) 
 Study visit to WIPO headquarters of Parliame ntarians and Senior Government Officials of 
Uganda, Geneva, Switzerland (July 2013) 
 JICA training course on “Quality Control Sy stem of Seeds and Seedlings to Facilitate 
Distribution of High Quality Seed s”, Tsukuba, Japan (August 2013) 
 4th Seed Congress of the Americas, Punta del Este, Uruguay (September 2013) 
 USPTO/UPOV Training Course “P lant Variety Protection under the UPOV Convention”, Geneva, 
Switzerland (September 2013) 
 Joint Workshop on DUS Testing and Molecular Techniques, Beijing, China (September 2013) 
 Fifth Session of the Governing Body of the ITPGRFA, Muscat, Oman (September 2013) 
 Meeting of Heads of Intellectual Property Offi ces for Caribbean countries, Geneva, Switzerland 
(September 2013) 
 
3  PARTICIPATION IN UPOV DISTANCE LEAR NING COURSE DL-205 “INTRODUCTION TO 
THE UPOV SYSTEM OF PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION UNDER THE UPOV CONVENTION 
3.1  Countries from which there were particip ants in the UPOV dist ance learning course 
DL-205 (2012 and 2013) 
Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, 
Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Chile,  China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Ecuador, Egypt, 
Estonia, Ethiopia, France, Gambia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, Hungary, India, 
Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lao People’s Democratic 
Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, 
Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, 
Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaz iland, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, 
Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, 
Uruguay, Viet Nam, Zambia and Zimbabwe (total: 82 countries). 
 
 IP/C/W/591/Add.6 
 
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  3.2  Total number of participants from me mbers and observers in the DL-205 course 
(2012 and 2013) 
Category Number of 
students 
Government officials of members of the Union 454 
Officials of observer States / intergovernmental organizations 20 
Total: 474 
 
3.3  Special sessions of the DL-205 course (in 2012 and 2013) 
Month/ 
Year Name of Course Language Number of 
participants  
Feb. 
2012 WIPO “Master II en droit de la propriété industrielle” FR 20 
April 
2012 USPTO/UPOV Training Course “P lant Variety Protection under 
the UPOV Convention” (Uni ted States of America) EN 10 
June 
2012 Naktuinbouw International Course on Plant Variety Protection 
Course (Netherlands) EN 18 
July 2012 KOICA Training Course on Plant Variety Protection (Republic of 
Korea) EN 14 
Sept. 
2012 JICA Training Course on “Internationally Harmonized Plant 
Variety Protection System” (Japan) EN 9 
Dec. 
2012 XI Training Course for Ibero-American Countries on the 
Protection of New Varieties of Plants (Uruguay) ES 12 
June 
2013 Naktuinbouw International Course on Plant Variety Protection 
Course (Netherlands) EN 30 
July 2013 KOICA Training Course on Plant Variety Protection (Republic of 
Korea) EN 12 
July 2013 WIPO/ARIPO/Africa University Masters Degree in Intellectual 
Property (MIP) Program EN 42 
August 
2013 JICA Training Course on “Quality Control System of Seeds and 
Seedlings to Facilitate Distribution of High Quality Seeds” 
(Japan) EN 9 
Sept 
2013 USPTO/UPOV Training Course on “Plant Variety Protection Under 
the UPOV Convention” (Switzerland) EN 7 
 IP/C/W/591/Add.6 
 
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ANNEX II1 
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FACILITATED BY UPOV 
UPOV facilitates cooperation in the examination of plant varieties as follows:  
 
a. Document C/46/5 “Cooperation in Examination” contains a synopsis of offers for cooperation 
in examination made by authorities, of cooperation already established between authorities and of any envisaged cooperation. 
 (see http://www.upov.int/meetings/e n/details.jsp?meeting_id=26467  ) 
 
b. Document TC/49/4 “List of Genera and Species for which Authorities have Practical 
Experience in the Examination of Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability” provides information 
on plant genera and species for which authorities have practical experience in the 
examination of Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) 
 (see http://www.upov.int/meetings/e n/details.jsp?meeting_id=28343 ) 
The following graph illustrates the development of cooperation since 2005: 
Plant Genera/Species with Cooperation Agreements, Practical Experience and 
Plant Breeder’s Right Entries in Plant Variety Database 
 
 
c. UPOV has developed “Guidelines for the Conduct of Tests for Distinctness, Uniformity and 
Stability,” or “Test Guidelines”, for many individual species or other variety groupings (see 
http://www.upov.int/test_guidelines/en/). The purp ose of these Test Guidelines is to provide 
practical guidance for the harmonized examination of DUS and, in particular, to identify appropriate characteristics for the examination of DUS and production of harmonized variety 
descriptions. In 2012, the adopted Test Guidelines covered 90% of all entries concerning 
plant variety protection in the PLUTO Plant Variety Database (207,235 of 236,107).
 
 
d. The GENIE database provides a dynamic source of information on the cooperation explained 
above. (see http://www.upov.int/genie/en/ ) 
 
e. The PLUTO Plant Variety Database provides information concerning plant breeders' 
rights.(see http://www.upov.int/pluto/en/ ). 
                                               
1 In English only. IP/C/W/591/Add.6 
 
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ANNEX III1 
 
LIST OF ACRONYMS USED IN THIS REPORT 
ARIPO African Regional Intellectual Property Organization 
COMESA Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa 
CPVO  Community Plant Variety Office of the European Union 
DUS  Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability EAPVP East Asian Plant Variety Protection ECOSA Economic Cooperation Organization Seed Association 
GAIA  Software to assist crop experts in the examination of distinctness 
IP  Intellectual property JICA  Japan International Cooperation Agency  
KOICA Korean International Cooperation Agency 
KSVS  Korea Seed & Variety Service OIPI  Office Ivoirien de la Propriété Intellectuelle 
PBR  Plant Breeders' Rights 
PVP  Plant Variety Protection Sida  Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency USPTO United States Patent and Trademark Office 
WIPO  World Intellectual Property Organization 
WTO  World Trade Organization 
 
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1 In English only.