Article 24 of the Plant Variety and Plant Seed Act of Taiwan stipulates that rightholders 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.

Border Enforcement of Plant Variety Rights
  1. Introduction
  2. Plant Variety Right Protection Border Measures
  3. The Foreign Trade Act of Taiwan
  4. Suggestions
  5. Conclusion

• Shun-liang Hsu(National Chung-Hsing University, Taiwan)