Owing to the fact that most matters arising were being dealt with or delegated to other, appropriate standing committees, the Committee decided to only meet as the need arises. The African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) Congress was held in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa and attended by the SANSOR General Manager and several delegates from SANSOR member companies.  The output of this regional initiative once again showed significant growth during the period under review due to better trading options provided and increased support received from seed companies and other bodies like the International Seed Trade Federation (ISF), Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), American Seed Trade Association (ASTA) and French Seed Trade Association (GNIS). The Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge & Folklore of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) had its fifth session during the period under review.

Mr MW (Wessel) Pretorius Chairman: International Standing Committee

Whilst there was agreement on keeping the committee, no consensus was reached on its mandate for the future.  Some delegates were in favour of drafting a legally binding international instrument on intellectual property in relation to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore, while others favoured an approach where the committee would just elaborate on core principles and elements of international instruments as a basis for further consideration of issues for the next biennium.  Another important issue was the question of a possible requirement to state origin of genetic resources in patent applications.  WIPO had prepared a detailed paper on the subject, but unfortunately little time was found to discuss it.  Nevertheless it was agreed to recommend the WIPO General Assembly to forward it to the Convention on Biological Diversity.

The International Seed Federation (ISF) was granted specialized consultative status with the United Nation’s Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO).  This implied that ISF would be invited to be represented in an observer capacity at FAO meetings on matters of mutual concern; FAO would be invited to be represented at ISF meetings that might be of interest to the organization; the two organizations would seek to develop further co-operation through informal consultations and contacts; FAO would send ISF its catalogue of available publications to enable the latter to request publications on FAO activities related to the work of ISF; and FAO and ISF would both implement the free exchange of documents on subjects of mutual interest.

The Codex Alimentarius Committee on Food Labelling met in Ottawa from 28 April to 2 May 2003.  The agenda item of greatest interest to SANSOR members was the “Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Labelling of Foods & Food Ingredients Obtained through Certain Techniques of Genetic Modification/Engineering”.  Owing to the lack on consensus on this particular issue, a ‘Chair’s Advisory Group’ was appointed to speed up the process and strive for a resolution.

South Africa ratified the Biosafety Protocol in August 2003 despite the fact that national legislation had not been harmonized accordingly yet.  Due to the fact that the required number of countries adhering to the relevant Protocol had been reached during the period under review, the Protocol entered into force on 11 September 2003.