The Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to refer to the attached Note (Ref. No. gev/sa-5041/96), of January 11, 1996, of the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Netherlands to the United Nations Office at Geneva, concerning the application to Aruba of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants of December 2, 1961, as revised at Geneva on November 10, 1972, and on October 23, 1978, and setting forth the proposal of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands "that the Kingdom ceases to be bound by the said Convention in respect of Aruba, with retroactive effect to the date on which the application was extended to Aruba." It is recalled that the said International Convention became applicable to Aruba with effect from November 8, 1986 (see UPOV Notification No. 34).
With a view to giving effect to the procedure set forth by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in that Note, His Excellency's Government is hereby invited to communicate to the Secretary-General of UPOV, within a period of six months from the date of the present notification, any objection against the procedure or the proposal set forth in the attached Note of the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
February 13, 1996
Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Office of the United Nations
To: Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants
No. gev/sa-5041/96
The Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the Office of the United Nations and other International Organisations at Geneva presents its compliments to the Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and, with reference to the Mission's Note no. 655 of 14 February 1986, has the honour to draw the Secretary-General's attention to the following.
In the aforesaid Note, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands extended to Aruba the application of the International Convention for the protection of new varieties of plants of December 2, 1961, as revised at Geneva on November 10, 1972, and on October 23, 1978. However, it has now become evident that the application of the Convention was extended erroneously to Aruba, as no new varieties of plants are cultivated on Aruba. Also, Aruba has no legislation to implement the Convention and, therefore, would be unable to comply with the Convention.
Although no contact has taken place between any of the Parties and Aruba with regard to the application of this treaty, and although, in practice there have not been any difficulties, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands deems it desirable to rectify what is legally a dubious situation. Therefore, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands would propose that the Kingdom ceases to be bound by the said Convention in respect of Aruba, with retroactive effect to the date on which the application was extended to Aruba.
The Government bases its proposal on the principle of international law laid down in Article 54 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 23 May 1969, in accordance with which the withdrawal from a treaty may take place at any time by consent of all the Parties after consultation with the other Contracting States.
In accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 65 of the Convention on the Law of Treaties, the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will deem such consent to have been given as regards the withdrawal in respect of Aruba, if none of the Contracting Parties has lodged an objection thereto with the Depositary within six months of the date of the notification of the proposal by the Depositary to all Parties and other Contracting States. The Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands will then deposit with the Depositary the instrument of withdrawal from the Convention in regard to Aruba, in compliance with the procedure laid down in Article 67, paragraph 2, of the Convention on the Law of Treaties.
The Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands would request the Depositary to notify all Parties and other Contracting States accordingly, and would appreciate receiving a copy of this notification.
The Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands avails itself of this opportunity to renew to the Secretary-General of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants the assurances of its highest consideration.
Geneva, 11 January 1996