VIETNAM - REPORT TO THE EMERGING IP RIGHTS COMMITEE
51st APAA Council Meeting - New Delhi, India
Introduction
Vietnam signed the CBD on 1993 and became a party of CBD on 1994, but still
not a member of FAO’s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Foods and
Agriculture.
At the present, writing documents relating to Access to Genetic Resources and
Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Resources for Food and Agriculture has not
been issued yet. According to some officials of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural
Developments and Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, a plan for a Bill
on this issue has been drafted.
IP Law of Vietnam will be issued at the end of 2005. Although there is no
provisions relating to Traditional Knowledge and Benefit Sharing, the importance of
Traditional Knowledge Protection has been recognized by Vietnamese competent
authorities such as the NOIP; Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Developments; and
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
Protection of Traditional Knowledge Resources
Although there is no writing documents relating to Access to Genetic Resources
and Fair and Equitable Sharing, in fact, depend on each particular case, a company
commercializing a plant will have to obtain permission of the Ministry of Agriculture
and Rural Developments and could pay a Tax for using the plant.
On June 14, 2005, a Seminar on Protection of Traditional Knowledge was
jointly organized by Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property and the National
Office of Intellectual Property (NOIP) of Vietnam in Hanoi. In the Seminar, a
Database and software of Vietnamese Medicine Plants has been introduced by the
NOIP.
In fact, some kinds of Traditional Knowledge was protected under IPR such as
Geographical Indications, Indication of Origin (“Phu Quoc” for fish souse, “Moc
Chau” for green tea), Traditional Medicines (granted patents for snake bike medicines,
medical oils..) ect.
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Conclusion
The importance of protection of Traditional Knowledge as well as Access to
Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of the Benefits Resources has been
recognized by Vietnamese Government. In the meantime, the Vietnamese Government
continues to find a framework to appropriately protect Traditional Knowledge as well
as Vietnamese Genetic Resources.
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