Background

 

On 24th December 2021, the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, on its 32nd Session, passed the decision to amend and revise the Seed Law of the People's Republic of China.

The amended Seed Law “is enacted in order to protect and make rational use of germ plasm resources, standardize variety selection, production, trading in and management of seeds, strengthen scientific and technological research in the seed industry, encourage innovation in seed breeding, protect the rights of new plant varieties, safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of seed producers, traders and users, improve the quality of seeds, develop modern seed industry, ensure national food security and promote the development of agriculture and forestry.

Core amendments

The amendments to the Seed Law strengthen provisions for the protection of new plant variety rights and improvement of the intellectual property protection system for the seed industry.

1. Expands the scope of protection of new plant varieties

Comprises propagation materials of authorized varieties to harvested materials.

2. Grants protection for a protected variety in additional phases of commercialization

Covering every aspect of the supply chain process, including production, breeding,propagation, offering for sale, sale, import, export, and storage for the implementation of abovementioned purposes.

3. Introduces the concept of Essentially Derived Varieties (EDV)

Establishes a system of EDV, between the owner of the original variety and the owner of the derived variables, to further encourage original innovation of plant breeding.

4. Further strengthens the protection of legal rights and interests of owners of new plant varieties.

Outlines the mechanism of benefit-sharing for the holders of new plant variety rights.

5. Amends the compensation system for infringement on new plant variety rights

Increases the compensation standard.

Historical Revisions of China's Seed Law

Seeds are the chips of agriculture and the basis for developing modern agriculture and ensuring national food security.

The new "Seed Law" strengthens the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of the owners of new plant varieties, which promotes and ensures a healthy and sustainable development the industry of China's seed industry while encouraging its scientific and technological innovation.

The recently amended "Seed Law" comes into effect today, 1st March 2022.