IP/C/W/603/Add.2
17 October 2014
(14-5961)  Page: 1/2
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of 
Intellectual Property Rights  Original: English
 
 TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: INFORMATION FROM  
OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS 
FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION  OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO) 
Addendum 
At its meeting of 11 June 2014, 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 informatio n which has been received from the Food and 
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) by means of a communication dated 9 October 2014. 
 
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1  FAO TECHNICAL COOPERATION PROJECTS OF RELEVANCE TO THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT 
Government Project Title Period TRIPS-related Activity 
 
Georgia GCP/GEO/004/AUT: "Capacity 
Development of the Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia: Improved 
Policy Making and Effective 
Implementation of the Strategy for Agricultural Development (contribution to NPARD Georgia Programme)" 2014-2016 Development of National Seed Policy. 
Seed law on intellectual property has been already approved by 
government and membership to 
UPOV has been granted. Actual seed law and regulations will be reviewed. 
Nigeria TCP/NIR/3403 "Strengthening 
National Seed Systems in Nigeria." 2013-2014 Analysis of national and regional-
level legislation on seeds (ECOWAS) 
and plant variety protection and 
recommendations to update the 
regulatory framework 
Pakistan, 
Tajikistan, 
Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan GCP /INT/123/MUL 2013-2015 Analysis of national seed policies and 
legislation, and recommendations to 
update the regulatory framework 
Benin TCP/BEN/3402: Projet d'Appui au 
Développement de la Filière Semence 
Maïs (PADFSM) 2012-2014 Review of the national seed policy 
and legislation 
Guinea TCP/GUI/3402 Assistance à 
l'élaboration de la politique semencière nationale 2012-2014 Review of the national seed policy 
and legislation 
Chad TCP/CHD/3403 Appui à la formulation 
de la politique semencière nationale 2013-2015 Review of the national seed policy 
and legislation 
 
 IP/C/W/603/Add.2 
 
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 2  THE INTERNATIONAL TREATY ON PL ANT GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND 
AGRICULTURE 
2.1.  The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (Treaty) 
contains provisions on intellectual property rights that are relevant to Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement. According to Article 12.3d of the Treaty , recipients of genetic material shall not claim 
any intellectual property or other rights that limit the facilitated access to plant genetic resources 
for food and agriculture, or their genetic parts and components, in the form received from the 
Multilateral System of Access of Benefit-sharing. This provision is reproduced in Article 6.2 of the Standard Material Transfer Agreement (SMTA) that regulates the transfer of genetic material from 
a provider to a recipient under the Multilateral System (MLS).  
2.2.  Also, Article 13.2d(ii) of the Treaty (which  has been reproduced in the SMTA) establishes a 
payment obligation for MLS users who commercialize a product that is a plant genetic resource for 
food and agriculture and that incorporates materi al accessed from the MLS, unless the product is 
available to others for further research and bree ding. Moreover, it might be of interest to the 
TRIPS Council that pursuant to Article 6.10 of the SMTA, a recipient of material from the 
Multilateral System who obtains intellectual property rights on any product developed from such 
material or its components and who assigns such in tellectual property rights to a third party, is 
required to transfer the benefit-sharing obligations of the SMTA to that third party. 
2.3.  At its Fifth Session in 2013, the Governing Body of the Treaty has requested "the Secretary 
to invite UPOV and WIPO to jointly identify possi ble areas of interrelations among their respective 
international instruments." The Secretary of the Treaty has already initiated this process together with UPOV and WIPO, which will include the possibility for all interested stakeholders and the wider 
public to participate and submit their views. 
2.4.  Finally, the Treaty Secretariat, which is housed at FAO, reiterates that it is interested in 
exploring any opportunity for cooperating with other intergovernmental organizations and 
processes, in order to facilitate technical assist ance on the interface between the Treaty's access 
and benefit-sharing regime and intellectual property frameworks. 
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