ARIPO-ACS39: The Proposed Road Map for the Arusha Protocol on the Protection of New Plant Varieties

On July 6 2015 a new protocol for the protection of new varieties of plants was adopted at an ARIPO Diplomatic conference in Arusha, Tanzania, see our post on it here. The new protocol, dubbed the Arusha Protocol was the subject of a further discussion at the 39th session of the Administrative Council in Lusaka, Zambia where the proposed road map for implementation was decided upon.

The agreed upon road map for the adoption of the Arusha protocol for the protection of new varieties of plants is as follows:

January to February, 2016: Preparation of an initial draft of the regulations by a legal draftsman.

March to May, 2016: Circulation of the initial draft of the regulations to the member states and relevant stakeholder institutions for review and

comments.

June, 2016: Organization of an expert, technical committee meeting to

review the draft regulations taking into account comments

received from member states and stakeholder institutions.

August, 2016: Consideration of the draft regulations by the technical committee on the protection of new plant varieties.

November, 2016: Consideration and adoption of the draft regulations for the implementation of the Arusha Protocol by the fortieth session

of the ARIPO administrative council.

According to this roadmap, the Arusha Protocol is expected to be adopted towards the end of 2016 and will formally come into force once it has been ratified by at least four member countries.

For more information on the proposals and discussions from the 39th Administrative Council session click on the #ARIPO-ACS39 tag below or for more information on this particular post contact Nicholas Watermeyer