Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations  
International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

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    The Inventory

    This online version of the Inventory presents, for each measure, the title and a brief description with information on implementing organization(s), start year, objectives, core elements, key outcomes, and, if applicable, lessons learned. It thus allows users to quickly identify those examples that may be of interest to them. A hyperlink to the original submission is provided, which includes additional information, such as on the history and context of the presented measure, challenges encountered, or target groups reached. In this way, users can get a more comprehensive idea of the measure in question and the specific context for which it was developed.
     
    To facilitate navigation, the Inventory is subdivided into eleven categories. Measures or practices that fall under more than one category are listed under each one that applies. Furthermore, information is provided on the type(s) of measures that are typically involved, such as technical, administrative, legal, and/or others, and on the relevant sub-article of Article 9 that is addressed. Additional search options allow searching by country, region, free text and keyword.
     
     
     
     
     
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    Number of records: 233

    1) The Right to Seeds in Africa. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other people working in rural areas and the Right to Seeds in Africa

    This Briefing, entitled "UNDROP and the Right to Seeds in Africa", is a publication of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, with the support of Swissaid, Crops4HD, and South Centre. The research was conducted from March to December 2022, and the Briefing was published in February 2023. The objective is to raise awareness of the Declaration and to promote its implementation in African countries. The Briefing 1) gives an overview of the right to seeds and intellectual property in international law; 2) introduces UNDROP and outlines its definition of the right to seeds and states’ obligations; 3) presents the challenges to the protection of the right to seeds in Africa; and 4) develops proposals and makes recommendations to better protect the right to seeds in the AU and African states. The Briefing has been presented in several forums, including seed policy workshops with African governments and civil society representatives. The publication fills an important gap in providing civil society and government actors with the tools to move toward the implementation of UNDROP, and the right to seeds in national and regional laws and policies.

    Category: 11.Other measures / practices

    Type of measure/practice:

    2) Constitutional Court Ruling that seed law restricting the free use, conservation and circulation of farmers’ seed and certification requirements are unconstitutional

    Seeds feed us; they are a collective creation that reflects the history of the peoples (Via Campesina, 2010). On June 1, 2017, the National Assembly of Ecuador approved the "Organic Law of Biodiversity, Seeds and Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture", this norm imposed agro-industrial certification requirements and restrictions on the free use, conservation, and circulation of peasant seeds. As a result, .several organizations, including the Seed Guardians Network - an organization that protects agrobiodiversity and promotes regenerative livelihood systems - filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court to reverse this discrimination. The lawsuit argued that seeds have been a common good and property of the people, not of the State or corporations, and that the Law violates the Ecuadorian Constitution (Articles 28, 37, 55, 281). On January 20, 2022, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador ruled in favor of the peasant seed systems through Judgment No. 22-17-IN and accumulated/22

    Category: 10.Legal measures for the implementation of Farmers’ Rights, such as legislative measures related to PGRFA.

    Type of measure/practice: Legal; Others

    3) Court ruling confirming the implementation of the Constitutional measure as contained in Article 401 of the Ecuadorian Constitution, a legal measure that protects and enforces farmers’ rights to seeds and crops that are GM-free

    Article 401 of Ecuador’s 2008 Constitution declares the country free of transgenic crops and seeds. It prohibits the cultivation of Genetically Modified (GM) crops and protects farmers’ rights to access GM-free seeds and crops, and ensures that their farmer seeds and seed systems are not contaminated. In 2018, the presence of transgenic soybean crops was verified in several farms in Los Rios province by non-governmental and peasant organizations. Two campesino organizations (Centro Agrícola de Quevedo and Federación de Centros Agrícolas del Litoral) in collaboration with the Ombudsman's Office and Acción Ecológica as a witness, filed an action for protection against the presence of GM crops. On 18 January 2019, the criminal judicial unit based in Quevedo canton issued a judgment order for the Los Rios province to remain a territory free of transgenic crops and seeds. In June 2017, Ecuador’s National Assembly approved the "Organic Law on Biodiversity, Seeds, and Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture." However, Article 56 of the Organic Law sidestepped the provisions of Article 401 and that it permitted GM cultivation for research purposes. As a result, several social movements appealed to the Constitutional Court, citing the unconstitutionality of the Organic law. In January 2022, the Constitutional Court of Ecuador declared Article 56 of the Law on Seed, Agrobiodiversity, and Sustainable Agriculture unconstitutional through Judgment No. 22-17-IN.

    Category:

    Type of measure/practice: Legal

    4) Application of constitutional and human rights measures by the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras to declare unconstitutional the Law for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, based on the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention

    On 17 November 2021, the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras issued its judgment in the appeal of unconstitutionality against the Legislative Decree No. 21-2012 containing the Law for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants by the National Congress of Honduras on March 12, 2012. In this judgment, the Court applies several constitutional and international law measures that: guarantee the right to life, human dignity, and the right of Honduran men and women to have an adequate standard of living; guarantee the human right to food as the right of people to nutritious, healthy, and culturally adequate food; recognize the obligation of the State of Honduras to conserve an adequate environment to protect the health of its inhabitants; establish the duty of the State of Honduras to protect the native cultures of the country and farmers' rights as constitutionally and internationally recognized. Applying these legal measures, the Court declared Decree No. 21-2012 unconstitutional and, therefore, the Law for the Protection of Plant Varieties. The Court points out that this law "faithfully reflects the guidelines provided by UPOV" and violates farmers' rights as recognized by the ITPGRFA and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas

    Category: 10.Legal measures for the implementation of Farmers’ Rights, such as legislative measures related to PGRFA.

    Type of measure/practice: Legal

    5) Application of constitutional measures for the protection of Indigenous Peoples and ethnic groups by Colombia’s Constitutional Court to declare a law enacted for the accession to the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention unconstitutional

    On 5 December 2012, Columbia’s Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional a law (Law 1518 of 2012) by which the National Congress approved the country’s accession to the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV Convention). The Court declared the aforementioned law unconstitutional because the Indigenous Peoples and ethnic communities, as well as the peasant population were not consulted prior to its enactment. The central argument of the ruling was based on the Political Constitution of Colombia (arts. 40-2, 329 and 330) published in the Constitutional Gazette No. 116 of July 20, 1991, as well as on the international law (International Labor Organisation (ILO), Convention 169. Article 6(1) of ILO Convention 169 provides that governments must "consult the peoples concerned, through appropriate procedures and in particular through their representative institutions, whenever consideration is being given to legislative or administrative measures which may affect them directly." In reaching this conclusion, the Court took into account the profound connection that exists between the seeds and the identity and culture of the peoples protected by the right to participate in decision making or prior consultation. From there, it deduced the direct impact that the law could have on the fulfilment of seed rights, as well as the traditional practices and knowledge of ethnic and peasant communities.

    Category:

    Type of measure/practice: Legal