Taiwan and Japan on Thursday in Tokyo signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on mutual recognition of plant varieties, the Agriculture and Food Agency said in a news release.
Following negotiations that lasted for more than a year, the MOU was signed by Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Chairman Su Jia-chyuan (蘇嘉全) and Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Chairman Mitsuo Ohashi on behalf of their respective governments at the 48th annual Taiwan-Japan Economic and Trade Conference, agency Deputy Director Yao Chih-wang (姚志旺) said in a news release.
Given that the international trade of agricultural products is booming due to global trade liberalization, using plant variety rights to protect Taiwan’s high-quality plant varieties has become even more important, he said.
Photo: Lin Tsuei-yi, Taipei Times
Plant variety rights cannot be protected in a country without prior review and approval from local authorities, as they are regulated following the territorial principle, Yao said.
As the review of applications for plant variety rights must be conducted following the plant’s life cycle, it is usually costly and time-consuming and could take applicants more than three years to obtain the rights, he said.
It would require more time and money if applications are made to more than one country, so the government has been establishing agreements on mutual recognition of plant variety rights with other countries, Yao said.
For example, Taiwan signed an agreement on mutual recognition of moth orchid varieties with the EU in 2019, as well as an MOU on mutual recognition and conservation of plant varieties with Vietnam in 2021, he said.
As of last month, 17 high-quality plant varieties have been granted an international plant variety right through such cooperative mechanisms, markedly reducing the application time and fees, Yao said.
There were 3,265 plant variety right applications nationwide as of last month, he said.
Of these, 2,735 were flowers, which made up the largest category of applications at 84 percent, followed by 210 from the vegetable category at 6 percent, 171 fruit tree varieties at 5 percent and 85 crop varieties at 3 percent, Yao said, adding that the remaining 64 applications, or 2 percent, fell under the “other” category.
The ministry would continue to seek more opportunities for international cooperation on the mutual recognition of plant varieties to enhance Taiwan’s competitiveness in agriculture, he said.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS