Foreword by the Editors
The Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society (APBREBES) was granted
observer status to UPOV in October 2010. At the same time, UPOV established a working
group to look at rules concerning observers. In such a discussion, we believe the
overview provided in this report on the rules concerning observers in UPOV and in
other international fora of relevance to UPOV will be useful.
Berne Declaration and Development Fund, both members of APBREBES recommend
that the UPOV working group on rules concerning observers would in particular look
into:
- Make all UPOV documents publically available;
- Invite all observers to join it work, with a view to achieve a balanced representation of the different stakeholder groups;
- Open consultative committee for observers.
Such changes would be in line with the general trend among many intergovernmental
organizations over the last decade to gradually expand transparency and participatory
mechanisms, in line with internationally recognized principles of good governance.