Cabinet Papers
In July 2003 Cabinet agreed to amendments to the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987. The proposed amendments to the PVRA would enhance the rights provided for PVR owners to a level consistent with those provided for in the 1991 revision of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV 91). A bill amending the PVRA has been drafted, and is expected to be introduced later in 2006. A draft of this Bill was made available for public comment in August 2005. A copy of the Bill can be found at: Draft Plant Variety Rights Amendment Bill. Submissions closed on 7 October 2005.
Cabinet also agreed that UPOV 91 not be ratified at that time, as ratification could constrain the government's ability to respond to the future outcome of the WAI 262 claim and any future amendment of the PVRA to take account of objectives of the government's bioprospecting strategy, once developed.
The WAI 262 claim has still not been resolved, and a New Zealand bioprospecting policy is still under development. Consequently, the question of whether New Zealand should ratify UPOV 91 has been reconsidered as three years have now passed since the Cabinet decision was taken. Cabinet decided that UPOV 91 should not be ratified at this stage, and that ratification be reconsidered once the draft Plant Variety Rights Amendment Bill has been enacted and come into force.
Further details of these decisions can be found in the following Cabinet papers.
Review of the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987
Cabinet Paper on the Review of the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987
Consideration of Ratification of UPOV 91
Cabinet Paper on the Consideration of Ratification of UPOV 91.
Also announced was the progress relating to the review of the Patents Act 1953.
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