Zespri has hit back at claims made by the Independent Kiwifruit Growers Association (IKGA) forming the basis for its call for an inquiry into the kiwifruit industry and particularly its single-desk marketer, Zespri, Sun Line reports.
The IKGA statement claimed growers feared intimidation from Zespri and called for an inquiry after the marketer came under investigation from the Serious Fraud Office over its conviction and fine in a Shanghai court in March this year.
Zespri has issued a detailed response to the IKGA via a spokesperson.
“Zespri has numerous policies and procedures in place to ensure directors cannot take commercial advantage of their privileged access to financial information, including: comprehensive approval and disclosure policies and procedures are in place for trading in Zespri Group Limited shares by directors,” they said. “This ensures that directors only complete such transactions in a market where potential stakeholders have had a reasonable opportunity to be fairly informed of knowledge which may affect the price of Zespri shares.”
Zespri also challenges the assertions made by IKGA regarding New Zealand’s international trade law obligations as “fundamentally wrong in a number of respects”, and goes on to outline its perceived failings.
“The New Zealand Government is entitled to grant such privileges under the existing WTO Agreement. This is by virtue of Article XVII of the former GATT 1947, which was preserved under the 1995 WTO Agreement, with further elaboration as set out in Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement. These provisions are now part of what is known as “GATT 1994”.
“Nothing in the WTO Agriculture Agreement or GATT 1994 prevents STEs from owning intellectual property rights, including PVRs. There is nothing in New Zealand or international law that prevents an STE from developing, registering, purchasing, owning, exploiting or selling exclusive IP rights such as copyright, patents, PVRs and trademarks in the same way that any other private individual or corporation can.
“On the contrary, the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) obliges WTO Member States to afford equal and fair treatment of IP rights held by each other’s private citizens. The ‘monopoly on a monopoly’ argument that an STE with export monopoly powers should somehow be forbidden from also owing or controlling intellectual property rights has no basis under the WTO rules.”
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