The Role of “Soft Law”/Guidance in Different Jurisdictions
Abstract
This paper details the potential of ‘soft law’ to promulgate instruments about the conception
of ‘essentially derived varieties’ introduced by the International Convention for the
Protection of New Varieties of Plants in 1991 (UPOV 1991). After addressing the forms of
‘soft law’ possible under the UPOV 1991 the paper provides a case study example of
adopting the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable
Sharing of the Benefits Arising out of their Utilisation under the United Nations Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) as a ‘soft law’ means of addressing the uncertain and
contentious access and benefit-sharing obligations. The paper concludes with some key
learnings for adopting ‘soft law’ instruments.
Conference Title
Seminar on essentially derived varieties
Copyright Statement
© 2014 UPOV. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the conference's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Intellectual Property Law