Part 2 of the course focuses on options for policies on PGR management, including IPR in developing countries. These issues are becoming increasingly relevant for GCP related research programmes. The 2005 GCP Annual Research Meeting in Rome confirmed that the use of new molecular breeding strategies, marker-assisted selection in breeding programmes, and the further evolvement of genotyping facilities requires “GCP Consortium members to take IPR issues serious” because:

• The high-tech and crop specific character of CGP-research brings the institutions involved into closer contact with ongoing private sector research programmes on crops that represent a large economic value so that confusion regarding proprietary claims to certain sequences is more likely than before.
• Clearly understanding IPR and PGR regulation may increase Consortium members' ability to keep knowledge in the public realm, thus not letting the knowledge ‘slip away’ to the private sector domain.
• Consortium member may want to use alternative forms of protection to secure the public use of its research results.

Similarly, the use of a wide diversity of germplasm from different origins creates similar concerns given national and communal rights over genetic resources and associated knowledge.

This part of the course offers you an introductory overview of the various forms of PGR and IPR policies at the international level and the options for regulation that are under discussion or implemented at the national level. An understanding of these regulatory issues is vital for the development of institutional and personal decisions in research.

Please mind the 10 assignments. They help you to better understand the content!

Occasionally there will be possibilities to ask experts for their opinion or help.

Good luck!

The moderator.