§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what plans there are to revise the WTO TRIPs agreement to allow staple food crops to be patented; [53354]
(2) if she will make a statement on the patenting of staple food crops. [53353]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe TRIPs agreement allows the Governments of WTO member states to decide for themselves whether to allow the patenting of plants in their own countries. However, the agreement does require WTO member states to protect plant varieties by other legal means if patents are not available. The UK supports this flexibility in the agreement and there are no plans to remove it.
The TRIPs agreement also confirms the internationally established principle that it is not possible to be granted a valid patent for something which is already known. According to this principle, neither traditional varieties of staple food crops nor related traditional knowledge can be patentable in themselves, even in countries where the patenting of plants is allowed.