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Dissertation
Immaterialgüter- und Wettbewerbsrecht

Directive (EU) 2015/412 and Coexistence: Trends and Forecasts in European GM Plants Agriculture and Innovation

Analysis of the EU coexistence legal framework in the context of the extant empirical data, the EU primary law and the different liability schemes; evaluation of its impacts on plant related innovation; and proposal of regulation at a regional level.

Letzte Änderung: 30.08.17

The original goal of the research was to develop a regional regulation on coexistence between maize MON810 and non-GM maize, specially focused on the Balearic Islands. For that purpose, an analysis of the state of empirical science on coexistence strategies was performed, based mostly on original scientific papers on the subject and scientific reviews. This first analysis was contextualized with a description of the extant situation of transgenic agriculture in the EU, Spain and the Balearic Islands, in comparison with conventional agriculture and organic farming. The whole study served as a pillar for further empirical studies performed in 2013 and 2015 in Mallorca. The results thus obtained, as well as the mentioned scientific review, has provided a complete dataset on which to build the proposal from a scientific approach.


In order to support the proposal from a juridical perspective, a law study has also been designed. An analysis of the EU coexistence legal framework from its origins till our days has been performed as a starting point. Results thus obtained have been confronted with the limits drawn by the EU primary law (specially, arts. 39.1 and 40.2 TFEU and arts. 16 and 52.1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU) and the ECJ caselaw. This has allowed to analyse the adequacy of the EU coexistence legal framework and of the national coexistence measures based on isolation distances and pollen barriers, to the EU primary law, thus completing the already existing scientific papers dealing with the issue form a scientific perspective. An analogous analysis focused on the liability and compensation schemes (of the, so called in the area, the ex-post coexistence measures) is also being performed.


The juridical analysis carried out erects the farmer’s privilege (in Europe also in force for crop patents) as a key argument in Europe for a rethinking of the EU coexistence recommendations and the national coexistence regulations. The significance in practice of this patent and PVR exception (with a massive exercitation by the Balearic farmers according to preliminary findings), along with the scarce implementation in the region of licencing agreements between the farmers and the GM seed companies, outlines a different role of the EU farmer in comparison with their US counterparts.


The progressive change of the EU legal framework on coexistence, could deter innovation on plant related inventions. To that extend, some metrics (as for example the evolution of the rate of patent applications on plant related inventions in Europe in comparison with other countries beyond the influence of the EU legal changes, such as the US) will be tested. This will allow to evaluate the potential impact in practice on biotechnology patents of the EU legal framework on GM crops cultivation, but also in relation to the PVR regime and between IP regimes. The answer seems to be crucial for the future of innovation on plant related inventions in Europe.

Personen

Doktorand/in

Dr. Juan Antonio Vives-Vallés

Doktorvater/-mutter

Dr. Jeroni Galmés (University of the Balearic Islands)

Forschungsschwerpunkte

Interessensausgleich