Implementation of the plant variety protection laws of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the nature of the agricultural sector in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines, thereby contextualising the structure of the countries’ national seed systems and the enactment of their respective plant variety protection (PVP) laws. It highlights the innovative elements of these countries’ PVP laws that render each regime as distinct from, and in some instances non-compliant with, the plant breeders’ rights model that the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) Convention embodies. The chapter outlines the relationship between UPOV and the sui generis laws of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. It focuses on the likelihood that Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines might revise their existing national PVP laws based on interactions with the UPOV Council, the East Asia Plant Variety Protection Forum, and other actors. The chapter analyses how the PVP laws of these countries have been utilised by different actors in the Indonesian, Malaysian, and Filipino seed sectors.