JEAIL > Volume 5(1); 2012 > Notes & Comments
Research Paper
Published online: May 30, 2012
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14330/jeail.2012.5.1.06

Border Enforcement of Plant Variety Rights: A Comparison between Japan and Taiwan

Shun-liang Hsu
National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan
Department of Law, National Chung Hsing University 250 Kuo Kuang Rd., Taichung 402, Taiwan.
Corresponding Author: taiwanlad@gmail.com

ⓒ Copyright YIJUN Institute of International Law
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Article 24 of the Plant Variety and Plant Seed Act of Taiwan stipulates that right-holders have exclusive rights to import/export propagating materials, harvested materials and products made directly from the harvested materials of protected plant varieties. However, detailed provisions of border measures and enacting rules have not yet been written both in the Act and the associated enforcement rules. Although Taiwan and China have built a close relationship in agriculture and trade, tightening export suspension measures may serve as an effective means of preventing the agricultural counterfeit issue from worsening, and reduce the possibilities of illegal re-importation. China is the principal country to which plant materials from Taiwan and Japan are smuggled for further propagation and then shipped back to their original markets. Japan's effective border measures for addressing plant variety right infringement and their PVP G-Men system could be a useful paradigm for Taiwan.

Keywords: Plant Variety Right, Border Measures, G-Men, Import Suspension, ex officio, Suspension of Release.

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