During the fall industry trade fairs 2018 in Ecuador, CIOPORA’s legal counsel Micaela Filippo joined Dean Rule and IRBA members in Quito with the goal to explore opportunities for improvement of the Ecuadorian PBR regime. Along visiting CIOPORA members and several growers at the Expo Flor Ecuador 2018, the main points of the mission’s agenda included a meeting with SENADI, the National Service for Intellectual Property Rights established in April 2018 replacing IEPI.
According to Mr Santiago Cevallos, SENADI’s Chief Executive Officer, the new agency was entrusted with a much broader scope of competencies than its predecessor IEPI. Both digitalization and acceleration of the PBR application process and reduction of the fees are among SENADI’s short-term priorities. Furthermore, a recently passed procedural law stipulates that SENADI, now also overseeing IP enforcement, will solve the currently pending administrative claims as to IP infringements filed before July 2018 within the period of six months.
Mr Cevallos acknowledged that the current laws did not provide enough guarantees to innovators, hence hindering foreign and domestic investment. The anticipation is that before any new laws can be adopted, some of the system’s shortcomings can be overcome via regulatory mechanisms as a mid-term solution.
In October 2018, the agency is launching a series of eight consultative meetings with stakeholders from various industries to establish the status quo in national IP regimes and to determine possible strategies for future policy-making. CIOPORA has provided Mr Cevallos with its analysis of the Ecuador’s PBR regime pinpointing a potential for improvement.
The subsequent visits of the Expo Flor Ecuador 2018 as well as at rose growers Rosa Prima and Royal demonstrated the importance of rose production for the country’s economy. The growers showcased the highest quality standards in roses as well technical know-how, with Rosa Prima featuring a self-developed system of automatic rails connecting their production and post-harvest facilities and a lab for the vase life testing. With Ecuadorian rose farms being innovation-driven businesses, it is crucial for CIOPORA to continue its engagement in Ecuador and work on establishing a safe and rewarding business environment for all industry players.
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