56 I EUROPEAN SEED I EUROPEAN-SEED.COM F armers’ Rights and Breeders’ Rights: according to some, these two are in a deep conflict with each other. According to others, they are like two perfect and complimentary brothers that get along very well. Watching this controversy and some of the strong remarks made by some organizations, European Seed felt it was time to look into this matter and get a better understanding on the perceived conflict. UPOV International guidance on plant breeders’ rights is set by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), whose mission is to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection, with the aim of encouraging the development of new varieties of plants for the benefit of soci- ety. Article 15 of the UPOV 1991 Convention outlines the various exceptions by specifying that breeders’ right shall not extend to a) acts done privately and for non-commercial purposes; b) acts done for experimental purposes, and c) acts done for the pur- pose of breeding other varieties. In the context of this analysis, especially the private and non-commercial use exception and the so-called breeders’ exception, are of importance. The breeders’ exception is a compulsory exception to the UPOV-type plant breeders’ right which provides that all varieties protected by such a right can be freely used for further breeding of new plant varieties by anybody, be it breeders, farmers, public research institutes, gene banks, amateurs or others. The resulting variety can be freely commercialized. FARMERS' RIGHTS Farmers' Rights are laid out in the International Treaty for Plant Genetic Resources on Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), “farmers' rights are critical to ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agri- culture and consequently for food security – today and in the future”. This is highlighted in Article 9 of the ITPGRFA, which aims to recognize the contribution the local and indigenous com- munities and farmers of all regions of the world. In particular, those in the centre of origin and crop diversity, have made - and will continue to make – their case for the conservation and devel- opment of plant genetic resources that constitute the basis of food and agriculture production throughout the world. With this, the Treaty makes governments responsible for implementing Farmers' Rights. The Treaty also lists a number of areas where measures could be taken by Contracting Parties at the national level to protect, promote and realize these rights, such as: •  The protection of traditional knowledge relevant to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; •  The right to equitably participate in sharing benefits aris- ing from the utilization of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; •  The right to participate in making decisions, at the national level, on matters related to the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture; and •  The right that farmers have to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seed/propagating material, subject to national law and as appropriate. SET THE STAGE In order to assess whether there is indeed a conflict between Farmers’ Rights and Breeders’ Rights, a number of clarifications are needed to figure out what is relevant in terms of the various perceptions and misperceptions. In order to properly set the stage, it is important to realize which countries are a member of the UPOV, the ITPGRFA and the Nagoya Protocol (NP). Figure 1 shows the countries of the world and their membership in the three sets of regulations. And it is immediately clear that there is great variation on the level of implementation, with some countries being only a member of UPOV, only a member of the ITPGRFA, only of the NP, and of all the possible variations. This already clearly shows from the beginning that there is great complexity in which set of regulations apply to a certain country. BENEFITS OF PLANT BREEDERS’ RIGHTS To start off, let’s take a deeper look at plant breeders’ rights. As it is well known, plant breeding is very time-consuming and A FALSE CONFLICT THE INTERRELATION BETWEEN FARMERS’ RIGHTS AND BREEDERS’ RIGHTS. By: Marcel Bruins “According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ‘farmers' rights are critical to ensuring the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and consequently for food security – today and in the future’.”