Ochrona i wykorzystanie roślinnych zasobów genowych. Wybrane aspekty prawne

Abstract

The issue of protection and use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture is governed by the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (the Treaty) prepared in Rome on 3 November, 2001. The Republic of Poland ratified the Treaty on 15 October, 2004, which came into force towards our country on 8 May, 2005. This paper is purposed to search the answer the question: is the Treaty composed of a set of norms covering measures sufficiently adequate, unambiguous and accurate to make a source of legal instruments to discharge the obligations specified above, or does the Treaty constitute merely certain legal frameworks, within which its signatories should move using institutions of the internal law (or creating them). If the Treaty subject to analysis constitute merely legal frameworks to discharge the obligations under the Treaty, then do the Polish legislation and the European Union legislation applied directly allow to implement the Treaty provisions in practice (as a whole or in a part). Finally, if operating rules of the law (regulations, the European Union law) do not allow to implement the Treaty provisions in a whole or in a part, then is it necessary to enact a new comprehensive regulation creating a legal instrument purposed to implement the aim, or will modification of the existing legal regulation be sufficient (if any, then in what scope). Answering the above questions it is necessary to concern the position of the international agreements in the Polish legal order, and next to determine what type of norms of the international law we deal with regard to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Only examination of the key issues mentioned above allows to indicate what specific regulations of the Polish national law provide implementation of the Treaty provisions, and in what aspect the changes required within a scope of this legislation should proceed, or in what aspect creation of new legal instruments in the Polish legal order is necessary.