[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 36 (Monday, September 11, 1995)]
[Page 1504]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the International Convention for the 
Protection of New Varieties of Plants

September 5, 1995

To the Senate of the United States:

    I transmit herewith for Senate advice and consent to ratification 
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 (hereinafter ``the 1991 Act of the UPOV 
Convention''). I transmit for the information of the Senate, the report 
of the Department of State with respect to the Convention.
    Ratification of the Convention is in the best interests of the 
United States. It demonstrates a domestic commitment to effective 
protection for intellectual property in the important field of plant 
breeding. It is also consistent with United States foreign policy of 
encouraging other countries to provide adequate and effective 
intellectual property protection, including that for plant varieties.
    I recommend, therefore, that the Senate give early and favorable 
consideration to the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention and give its advice 
and consent to ratification subject to a reservation under Article 
35(2), which allows parties to the existing Convention (the 1978 Act) to 
retain their present patent systems for certain varieties of plants.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
September 5, 1995.