AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PRODUCTION EFFECTS OF ADOPTING GM SEED TECHNOLOGY: THE CASE OF FARMERS IN ARGENTINA

TABLE 6. New Transgenic Varieties Registered in Argentina (1995-2003)⁷³

In contrast to the situation in the United States, companies in Argentina cannot
look for patent protection for new varieties or genetically modified organisms. Despite
the many changes to the law and the demand for new technologies in genetics, the new
legal framework does not allow for strict property rights protection via a patent system;
new genetically modified varieties must resort to the same weak protection as other
varieties.

From 1864 to 1995, the patent system in Argentina was regulated by Law 111.⁷⁴
This law did not specify any particular regulation with respect to plants, but during this
period there were no patent applications for a new variety. Furthermore, all the matters
with regard to plant varieties were derived from the regulations of Law No. 20247⁷⁵ and,
later, Law No. 24376.⁷⁶ In 1995, Congress enacted new patent laws modifying Law No.
111 (Law Nos. 24481 and 24572).⁷⁷ According to the new regulatory framework, the
patenting of new plants is expressly prohibited, although it does not specify new plant
varieties.⁷⁸ Furthermore, patenting of new varieties is not legally possible, as the law of
1994 adhered to UPOV 1978, which prohibited a regulatory system of double protection.

73 See Domingo (2003), at 9.

74 See Rapela (2000).

75 See Law No. 20247 (Mar. 30, 1973), Poder Ejecutivo Nacional, April 16, 1973, B.O. No. 22648.
available at http://infoleg.mecon.gov.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/30000-34999/34822/norma.htm.
76 See Law No. 24376 (Oct. 20, 1994), supra note 79.

77 See RAPELA (2000), at 74.

78 “Since the Patent law in Argentina prohibits the patenting of plants, in fact prohibits the patenting
of varieties since, even though not all plants can be labeled as plant varieties, all plant varieties are
composed by plants without exception.” See id. at 151. (author translation from the original: “[L]a ley
de patentes de Argentina al prohibir taxativamente el patentamiento de plantas esta, de hecho,
prohibiendo el patentamiento de variedades ya que, si bien no todas las plantas pueden ser
categorizadas como variedades vegetales, todas las variedades vegetales estan compuestas por plantas
sin excepcion alguna.”).

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