¿This paper considers the likely transaction costs that would be entailed in
exchanging plant genetic resources for food and agriculture under bilateral
agreements [...]International germplasm flow over the past decades for specific crop groups, and the number of source countries and destination countries involved, were
estimated. Four different scenarios with a varying degree of germplasm
exchange under bilateral agreements were assumed and likely transaction costs
under these four scenarios were estimated. These scenarios range from an

¿At the multilateral level, systems should: 1) Maximize opportunities for multilateral technical cooperation, aiming to establish facilitated access to materials and technologies needed for the conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA. [...] 2) Promote and facilitate the harmonization of national legislation and public policies related to the conservation and sustainable use of PGRFA [...] 3) Improve allocation of existing and new sources of funding, taking into account priorities of the FAO Global Plan of Action [...]¿

"[...] implementing global cooperation on the conservation and sustainable utilization of genetic resources for agriculture and food means organizing two processes. 1) Organizing negotiation and, once agreement has been reached, monitoring, will inevitably be the responsibility of the Intergovernmental Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture hosted by the FAO. 2) Organizing global cooperative operations could be assigned to the GFAR, which involves the operational partners that will have to be mobilized in order to implement the GPA.

¿It is commonly, but incorrectly assumed, that the Country of Origin under the
Convention on biological Diversity is the country in which a particular sample was
collected. The CBD, however, provides a different and far more rigorous standard
to be met for domesticated species. In the simplest possible interpretation, the
CBD requires that the origin of the material¿s ¿distinctive properties¿ be identified.
It is the country in which these distinctive properties arose that can claim to be the

¿The Global Plan of Action (GPA), adopted at the Fourth International Technical
Conference in Leipzig in June 1996, is a comprehensive framework for action
necessary for the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for
food and agriculture (PGRFA) around the world. The GPA has been widely
welcomed at local, national, regional and international levels, and has been
extensively taken into account in developing plans and carrying out related activities.
A recent review of the GPA implementation2 found that, although considerable

¿Countries may wish to consider options to ensure their IP systems are both
properly applied and are supporting research and innovation. Some options
may include: national legislation which provides for strict requirements for drafting of
patent claims and higher standards for novelty requirements, so that patent claims
can be critically reviewed before being granted. Countries may also wish to consider
the establishment of a public defender type system so that those

¿The findings of this study [...] can be summarized as follows: 1. Developing countries have been and continue to be recipients of a large amount of germplasm samples from IARCs, receiving more in numbers of germplasm samples from IARC genebanks than they contributed. 2. Developing countries receive significantly more germplasm samples from IARC genebanks than

¿The regulation of access and benefit sharing calls for a variety of specialized regimes
that adequately take account of the specificities of each or a number of
sectors/subsectors of biodiversity.
The CBD broadly covers all areas of biodiversity, while it does not prevent parties
from developing specific schemes to deal with defined types of genetic resources.
The delay in the establishment of a multilateral system for PGRFA, still under
negotiation, creates a vacuum in which national laws may tend to subject PGRFA to

¿[¿] there is room for maneuver to reconcile the operation of the principle of facilitated access under a multilateral system on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, with certain forms of protection under IPRs. The recognition that materials covered by that
system shall be deemed as non-protectable by IPRs, would be an important and
reasonably achievable step, that may speed up the adoption of and ensure an
extensive flow of germplasm under a multilateral system.¿

¿We, as participants gathered here at the Global Forum for Agricultural Research in Dresden,
Germany, on May 21 2000, being drawn from the national agricultural research systems,
regional and sub- regional organizations, universities, advanced research institutions, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, farmers¿ organizations, multilateral and donor
agencies, and international agricultural research centers, recognize the important contribution of
plant genetic resources for food and agriculture towards food security, poverty alleviation, and