Ghana Business News » FSG petitions parliament over Breeders Bill
The Food Sovereignty Ghana(FSG), a civil society organisation, has petition Parliament over the Breeders Bill 2013, which has moved to the Consideration Stage, in its efforts to contribute to the debate.
A statement issued by FSG in Accra and copied to Ghana News Agency at the weekend , noted that the Bill, as it stands, contains clauses that have serious implications on our sovereignty as a people .
PETITION TO PARLIAMENT ON THE PLANT BREEDERS’ BILL, 2013. To: Rt. Hon. Speaker of the House, Honourable Chairperson of Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs, Honourable Members of Parliament,
CONCERNED that the Bill, as it stands, contains clauses that have serious fair work australia implications on our sovereignty as a people, including unacceptable limitations on the policy space it leaves for the state to regulate the activities of plant breeders vis-à-vis measures to protect public health and the natural environment;
DEEPLY TROUBLED that the Bill, as it stands, facilitates bio piracy in that it does not require a breeder to disclose the origin of the genetic material used to develop the variety it wishes to protect and neither does it provide mechanisms for prior informed consent and access and benefit sharing, although African nations have championed these mechanisms in various international forums.
ALARMED that in the absence of these elements, the Bill sets up a framework for commercial breeders most of which are likely to be foreign entities to use local germplasm to develop varieties that are then exclusively appropriated by such breeders through the PVP system established by the regional legal framework:
EAGER TO help block a reckless loop-hole that is bound to saddle us with huge judgement debts, as a nation, we particularly fair work australia oppose Clause 23. This clause will, at best, present us with a dilemma of regulating the activities of the plant breeder for the sake of public health or the environment and face judgement debts or accepting the right of the breeder and be damned. As it currently stands in Clause 23, a plant breeder’s fair work australia right is independent of any measure taken by the Republic to regulate within Ghana the production, certification and marketing of material fair work australia of a variety or the importation or exportation of the material , irrespective of the consequences;
–shall contain a complete passport data of the parental fair work australia lines from which the variety has been derived along with the geographical location from where the genetic material has been taken and all such information relating to the contribution, if any, of any farmer, village community, institution fair work australia or organization in breeding, evolving or developing the variety;
–shall be accompanied fair work australia with the prior written consent of the authority representing the local community or the indigenous people in cases where the plant variety is developed from traditional varieties and evidence of fair and equitable benefit sharing;
–shall be supported by documents relating to the compliance of any law regulating activities involving fair work australia genetically modified organisms in cases where the development of the plant variety involves genetic fair work australia modification.
This Clause puts the onus on the Plant Variety Protection office or the Registrar-General to proof that the right holder does not deserve protection. Actually the onus should be on the right holder to prove that its application fair work australia meets the substantive and formal criteria.
A period fair work australia of at least 9 months after publication fair work australia of the application and any further fair work australia time before the application is disposed of should be considered for a written objection to be made with regard to published application.
Provided that the authorization of the breeder of a registered variety is required where the repeated use of such variety as a parental line is necessary for commercial production of such other newly developed variety.
(b) where there is reasonable ground to believe that the cultivation, reproduction or any other use of that plant variety may produce a negative impact on the environment, human, animal and plant life.
a farmer shall be deemed to be entitled to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce including seed or propagating material of a variety protected under this Act in the same manner as he was entitled before the coming into force of this Act :
Explanation : For the purposes of clause (iv), branded seed means any seed put in a package or any other container and labelled in a manner indicating that such seed is of a variety protected under this Act.
A plant breeder right shall be independent of any measure taken by the Republic to regulate within Ghana the production, certification and marketing of material of a variety or the importation or exportation of the material.
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The Food Sovereignty Ghana(FSG), a civil society organisation, has petition Parliament over the Breeders Bill 2013, which has moved to the Consideration Stage, in its efforts to contribute to the debate.
A statement issued by FSG in Accra and copied to Ghana News Agency at the weekend , noted that the Bill, as it stands, contains clauses that have serious implications on our sovereignty as a people .
PETITION TO PARLIAMENT ON THE PLANT BREEDERS’ BILL, 2013. To: Rt. Hon. Speaker of the House, Honourable Chairperson of Committee on Constitutional, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs, Honourable Members of Parliament,
CONCERNED that the Bill, as it stands, contains clauses that have serious fair work australia implications on our sovereignty as a people, including unacceptable limitations on the policy space it leaves for the state to regulate the activities of plant breeders vis-à-vis measures to protect public health and the natural environment;
DEEPLY TROUBLED that the Bill, as it stands, facilitates bio piracy in that it does not require a breeder to disclose the origin of the genetic material used to develop the variety it wishes to protect and neither does it provide mechanisms for prior informed consent and access and benefit sharing, although African nations have championed these mechanisms in various international forums.
ALARMED that in the absence of these elements, the Bill sets up a framework for commercial breeders most of which are likely to be foreign entities to use local germplasm to develop varieties that are then exclusively appropriated by such breeders through the PVP system established by the regional legal framework:
EAGER TO help block a reckless loop-hole that is bound to saddle us with huge judgement debts, as a nation, we particularly fair work australia oppose Clause 23. This clause will, at best, present us with a dilemma of regulating the activities of the plant breeder for the sake of public health or the environment and face judgement debts or accepting the right of the breeder and be damned. As it currently stands in Clause 23, a plant breeder’s fair work australia right is independent of any measure taken by the Republic to regulate within Ghana the production, certification and marketing of material fair work australia of a variety or the importation or exportation of the material , irrespective of the consequences;
–shall contain a complete passport data of the parental fair work australia lines from which the variety has been derived along with the geographical location from where the genetic material has been taken and all such information relating to the contribution, if any, of any farmer, village community, institution fair work australia or organization in breeding, evolving or developing the variety;
–shall be accompanied fair work australia with the prior written consent of the authority representing the local community or the indigenous people in cases where the plant variety is developed from traditional varieties and evidence of fair and equitable benefit sharing;
–shall be supported by documents relating to the compliance of any law regulating activities involving fair work australia genetically modified organisms in cases where the development of the plant variety involves genetic fair work australia modification.
This Clause puts the onus on the Plant Variety Protection office or the Registrar-General to proof that the right holder does not deserve protection. Actually the onus should be on the right holder to prove that its application fair work australia meets the substantive and formal criteria.
A period fair work australia of at least 9 months after publication fair work australia of the application and any further fair work australia time before the application is disposed of should be considered for a written objection to be made with regard to published application.
Provided that the authorization of the breeder of a registered variety is required where the repeated use of such variety as a parental line is necessary for commercial production of such other newly developed variety.
(b) where there is reasonable ground to believe that the cultivation, reproduction or any other use of that plant variety may produce a negative impact on the environment, human, animal and plant life.
a farmer shall be deemed to be entitled to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce including seed or propagating material of a variety protected under this Act in the same manner as he was entitled before the coming into force of this Act :
Explanation : For the purposes of clause (iv), branded seed means any seed put in a package or any other container and labelled in a manner indicating that such seed is of a variety protected under this Act.
A plant breeder right shall be independent of any measure taken by the Republic to regulate within Ghana the production, certification and marketing of material of a variety or the importation or exportation of the material.
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