Essential Derivation
ISF has adopted arbitration procedure rules tailored to the technical and legal aspects of essential derivation in plant breeding.
Regulation for the Arbitration of Disputes concerning Essential Derivations (RED)
Explanatory notes clarify and provide guidance on numerous provisions of these rules. RED is based on a threshold for essential derivation, measured as the genetic distance between varieties, above which the breeder of the putative essentially derived variety must demonstrate that his variety has not been predominantly derived from the initial variety. The ISF Crop Sections have adopted guidelines for dealing with disputes on essentially derived varieties of perennial ryegrass, maize, oilseed rape, cotton and lettuce. The technical rules for establishing a threshold for essential derivation are also available.
RED does not anticipate any special requirements for the arbitrators and the choice of arbitrators is at the discretion of the disputing parties. To assist parties ISF provides a list of international arbitrators who have the necessary knowledge to handle a dispute on essential derivation.