EU–MERCOSUR Agreement: A Missed Opportunity to Strengthen Plant Breeders’ Rights

The challenges facing the plant breeding sector are multiple and unfold across different fronts. While there is broad consensus on the need to innovate in new plant varieties to reduce pesticide use, improve water efficiency, or adapt varieties to different climate conditions, we continue to see policymakers who move in the opposite direction.

A clear example is the trade agreement between the European Union and MERCOSUR, a bloc composed of Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, and Paraguay.

The agreement itself is extensive, including 23 chapters, 45 annexes, and 63 pages dedicated to intellectual property. However, only four lines are dedicated to plant varieties. The concern is not just the limited space, but the lack of substance within those lines. This agreement represented a valuable opportunity for the EU to require MERCOSUR countries to update their plant variety protection systems, moving from the UPOV 1978 Act to the more robust UPOV 1991 framework.

At CIOPORA, we have consistently advocated for the adoption of the latest UPOV standards, and this case is no exception. The UPOV 1978 Act presents several limitations: it does not provide protection for harvested material, does not include Essentially Derived Varieties (EDVs), does not require protection across all genera and species, and under UPOV 1978, protection lasts a minimum of 15 years for most plant species and 18 years for trees and vines.

These are just some of the shortcomings of the 1978 Act, which lead many experts to question its effectiveness as a sui generis system, particularly in light of the standards established under the TRIPS Agreement.

In 2024, imports of fruits and vegetables from MERCOSUR into the EU reached around €1 billion, and it is highly likely that many of these products are based on varieties developed by European breeders. This raises a fundamental question: how do we recognize and protect their work?

This situation suggests that decision makers are not fully considering the impact of plant breeders. While expecting breeders to continue delivering innovation, developing varieties adapted to climate change, supporting more sustainable agriculture, and enabling new products for customers, they are not providing the basic conditions needed to sustain this work: a robust intellectual property framework that effectively protects innovation.

At CIOPORA, we will continue to raise awareness about the implications of such agreements. More importantly, we will continue to highlight missed opportunities where decision makers could strengthen the protection of innovation, particularly for small and medium-sized breeding companies, which often lack the resources to make their voices heard within European institutions that are meant to represent them.