In the period 5-6 October, 2015, in Chisinau, was held the national seminar entitled “Protection of Plant Varieties and Enforcement of Breeders’ Rights”. The event was organized by the State Agency on Intellectual Property in cooperation with the Community Plant Variety Office, State Commission for Variety Testing and with the technical assistance of the TAIEX Project of the European Commission.

The event aimed to familiarize the breeders of the republic with the national and international legislation in the field of protection of new varieties of plants and enforcement of breeders’ rights.

The seminar was attended by senior officials of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), lecturers from Poland, Italy, Greece and Romania, specialists of the AGEPI and the State Commission for Variety Testing (SCVT), National Agency for Food Safety, representatives of breeding institutions and organizations of the republic.

In the opening, Deputy Director General of AGEPI, Ion Tiganas, said that this seminar comes to bring more information in the field of protection of plant varieties. He has highlighted three trends on which attention should be drawn and how to intervene urgently. The first one is related to the patent system. It is regrettable the fact that breeders do not use the patent system, which would provide a more efficient system of protection, underlined Ion Tiganas. You have also to strive to protect plant varieties abroad, this being the second issue addressed by the Deputy Director General of AGEPI. Varieties developed in the country are used abroad, but the benefits of this use are not in favor of Moldova, added Ion Tiganas. The last message of the Deputy Director General of AGEPI is related to the management of portfolio of plant varieties. Even if some institutions hold or are holding these varieties, their management is not very effective. We want a fairer approach to the portfolios of plant varieties, said Ion Tiganas. He also urged breeders to take the new standards and practices which are implemented at international and European level in the field of protection of plant varieties.

Further, Peter Button, Vice Secretary General of UPOV, said that the aim of this seminar is to bring to the attention of interested persons the importance of new varieties of plants, the need for their protection, as well as the enforcement of breeders’ rights. The official stressed that for the public sector is crucial to protect breeders’ rights both in the country and abroad. If there is no protection then there is no possibility of getting income, said Deputy Secretary General of UPOV.

Attending the event, Nicolae Olaru, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry of the Republic of Moldova, said that the exchange of experience in the field of protection of plant varieties, conducted during the seminar, will have positive results for the experts of the country.

In turn, Martin Ekvad, president of CPVO, said that one of the main goals of this seminar is to inform breeders on the international and community normative-legislative framework on the enforcement of breeders’ rights on new varieties of plants. If the rights acquired are not respected then the revenues due to the use of plant varieties are extremely limited, CPVO president added.

In accordance with the national seminar agenda, there was presented information about the provisions of the international legislation on the protection of plant varieties under the UPOV Convention. Further, talks were held both about community legislation in the fields of protection of plant varieties and the rights on plant varieties, as well as about Moldovan legislation in this field. There was also presented information about applying measures of protection of intellectual property rights at the border.

Breeders present at the seminar shared their own experiences and initiatives in the field of protection of plant varieties and enforcement of their rights. The event was useful for the participants, who expressed their desire to deepen their knowledge in other meetings or seminars of this kind. Breeders emphasized the importance of such events for the takeover of best practices in the field of protection of plant varieties.

It should be mentioned that on 5 October this year, Vice Secretary General of UPOV and President of CPVO, accompanied by representatives of CSPSP and AGEPI attended a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture and Food Industry Ion Sula. During the meeting, the officials exchanged views on the system of protection of plant varieties, the problems faced by breeders in the Republic of Moldova in this area. Officials have agreed to intensify the cooperation with UPOV and CPVO in order to strengthen the national system of protection and enforcement of breeders’ rights.