[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 110 (Monday, July 7, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S6368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      REMOVAL OF INJUNCTION OF SECRECY--TREATY DOCUMENT NO. 110-19

  Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask 
unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the 
following treaty transmitted to the Senate on July 7, 2008, by the 
President of the United States. It is the Treaty on Plant Genetic 
Resources for Food and Agriculture (Treaty Document No. 110-19).
  I further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the 
first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the 
President's message be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The message of the President is as follows:

To the Senate of the United States:
  I transmit herewith for advice and consent of the Senate to 
ratification the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for 
Food and Agriculture, adopted by the Food and Agriculture Organization 
of the United Nations on November 3, 2001, and signed by the United 
States on November 1, 2002 (the ``Treaty''). The Treaty entered into 
force in June 2004.
  The centerpiece of the Treaty is the establishment of a multilateral 
system under which a party provides access to other parties, upon 
request, to listed plant genetic resources held in national genebanks. 
These resources are to be used solely for purposes of research, 
breeding, and training in agriculture. A recipient of such a resource 
must then share the benefits from its use, e.g., a recipient who 
commercializes a product containing an accessed plant genetic resource 
must generally pay a percentage of any gross sales into a trust 
account.
  Transfers under the multilateral system are to be accompanied by a 
standard material transfer agreement, the current version of which was 
concluded in June 2006.
  Provision of plant genetic resources from U.S. genebanks is fully 
consistent with the Department of Agriculture's long-standing general 
practice of providing access to such plant genetic resources upon 
request. Ratification of the Treaty will provide U.S. agricultural 
interests with similar access to other parties' genebanks, thus helping 
U.S. farmers and researchers sustain and improve their crops and 
promote food security.
  The Treaty may be implemented under existing U.S. authorities.
  I also transmit, for the information of the Senate, the report of the 
Department of State concerning the Treaty, which contains an 
understanding regarding Article 12.
                                                      George W. Bush.  
The White House, July 7, 2008.

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