WRITTEN QUESTION E-2032/01 by Jan Mulder (ELDR) to the Commission. EC membership of UPOV.
Date: 2001-07-13
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Community Plant Variety Office, intellectual property, international organisation, plant variety right, proposal (EU), the EU's international role

C 115 E/30

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

16.5.2002

(2002/C 115 E/028)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2032/01

by Jan Mulder (ELDR) to the Commission

(13 July 2001)

Subject: EC membership of UPOV

At this moment, the European Community has the status of observer at meetings of the International
Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). In April 1998, the 1991 UPOV Treaty was
ratified, which allows for full UPOV membership for intergovernmental organisations such as the European
Community.

Is the Commission aware of the fact that the Committee on Plant Variety Rights stated in the minutes of
its meeting of 1-2 July 1998 that UPOV is dealing with matters containing elements both of national and
of Community competence, and that all Member States have stressed the importance of Community
accession to UPOV?

Does the Commission agree with those statements?

Is the Commission thus planning to put forward a proposal, in the short term, to change the Community’s
observer status into full UPOV membership?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(25 September 2001)

The Commission confirms that the ‘Union for the protection of New Varieties of Plants’ (UPOV) deals with
matters relating to plant variety rights, a specific form of intellectual property protection in respect of new
varieties of plants. As the Community system on plant variety protection coexists with the national
systems on plant variety protection in most of its Member States, UPOV is indeed dealing with matters
which fall under both Community and national competence. This has been confirmed in the meeting of
the Standing Committee on Plant Variety Rights held on 1-2 July 1998.

The Commission also confirms the importance of the Community accession to UPOV, as stressed by all
Member States in the same meeting.

Reference to a proposal for a Council Decision approving the accession of the Community to the UPOV is
made in the ‘Commission’s Work Programme for 2001’ (1). The proposal will likely be finalised by October
2001, after clarification of the financial and other implications of the accession of the Community to
UPOV.

(1) COM(2001) 28 final.

(2002/C 115 E/029)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2042/01

by Gerhard Hager (NI) to the Commission

(13 July 2001)

Subject: Amended proposal for a Council directive on the right to family reunification

In Article 3(2) of the amended proposal for a Council directive on the right to family reunification (1)
various groups of third-country nationals are excluded from the scope of the proposal for a directive.
Article 3(2)(b) of the proposal for a directive excludes third-country nationals who have been granted
temporary protection in a Member State; Article 3(2)(c) excludes third-country nationals authorised to
reside in a Member State on the basis of a subsidiary form of protection.

What difference does the Commission see between temporary protection in a Member State and subsidiary
protection in a Member State?

(1) COM(2000) 624 final ; OJ C 62 E, 27.2.2001, p. 99.