[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 87 (Monday, July 6, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7519-S7520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF PLANTS

  (The text of the resolution of ratification as agreed to by the 
Senate on June 26, 1998, follows:)

       Resolved, (two-thirds of the Senators present concurring 
     therein), That the Senate advise and consent to the 
     ratification of The International Convention for the 
     Protection of New Varieties of Plants of December 2, 1961, as 
     revised at Geneva on November 10, 1972, on October 23, 1978, 
     and on March 19, 1991 and signed by the United States on 
     October 25, 1991 (Treaty Doc. 104-17), subject to the 
     reservation of subjection (a), the declarations of subsection 
     (b), and the proviso of subjection (c).
       (a) Reservation.--The advice and consent of the Senate is 
     subject to the following reservation, which shall be included 
     in the instrument of ratification and shall be binding on the 
     President:
       Protection for Asexually Reproduced Varieties.--Pursuant to 
     Article 35(2), the United States will continue to provide 
     protection for asexually reproduced varieties by an 
     industrial property title other than a breeder's right and 
     will not, therefore, apply the terms of this Convention to 
     those varieties.

[[Page S7520]]

       (b) Declarations.--The advice and consent of the Senate is 
     subject to the following declarations:
       (1) Limited reservations provisions.--It is the Sense of 
     the Senate that a ``limited reservations'' provision, such as 
     that contained in Article 35, has the effect of inhibiting 
     the Senate in its exercise of its constitutional duty to give 
     advice and consent to ratification of a treaty, and the 
     Senate's approval of this treaty should not be construed as a 
     precedent of acquiescence to future treaties containing such 
     a provision.
       (2) Treaty interpretation.--The Senate affirms the 
     applicability to all treaties of the constitutionally based 
     principles of treaty interpretation set forth in Condition 
     (1) of the resolution of ratification of the INF Treaty, 
     approved by the Senate on May 27, 1988, and Condition (8) of 
     the resolution of ratification of the Document Agreed Among 
     the States Parties to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces 
     in Europe, approved by the Senate on May 14, 1997.
       (c) Proviso.--The resolution of ratification is subject to 
     the following proviso, which shall be binding on the 
     President:
       Supremacy of the Constitution.--Nothing in the Treaty 
     requires or authorizes legislation or other action by the 
     United States of America that is prohibited by the 
     Constitution of the United States as interpreted by the 
     United States.

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