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PROTECTION OF PLANT VARIETIES AND FARMERS' RIGHTS ACT, 2001.

Introduction Objectives of the PPV & FR Act, 2001 Rights under the Act Implementation of the Act Registration of varieties Fees for registration DUS Test Centers Certificate of Registration Benefit Sharing Rights of Community Convention countries Plant Varieties Protection Appellate Tribunal.

INTRODUCTION. In order to provide for the establishment of an effective system for the protection of plant varieties , the rights of farmers and plant breeders and to encourage the development of new varieties of plants it has been considered necessary to recognize and to protect the rights of the farmers in respect of their contributions made at any time in conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources for the development of new plant varieties . The Govt. of India enacted “ The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001 ” adopting sui generis system. Indian legislation is not only in conformity with International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 1978, but also have sufficient provisions to protect the interests of public sector breeding institutions and the farmers. The legislation recognizes the contributions of both commercial plant breeders and farmers in plant breeding activity and also provides to implement TRIPs in a way that supports the specific socio-economic interests of all the stakeholders including private, public sectors and research institutions, as well as resource-constrained farmers..

OBJECTIVES OF THE PPV & FR ACT, 2001. To establish an effective system for the protection of plant varieties, the rights of farmers and plant breeders and to encourage the development of new varieties of plants . To recognize and protect the rights of farmers in respect of their contributions made at any time in conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources for the development of new plant varieties . To accelerate agricultural development in the country, protect plant breeders’ rights; stimulate investment for research and development both in public & private sector for the development new of plant varieties . Facilitate the growth of seed industry in the country which will ensure the availability of high quality seeds and planting material to the farmers ..

RIGHTS UNDER THE ACT. Breeders ’ Rights : Breeders will have exclusive rights to produce, sell, market, distribute, import or export the protected variety. Breeder can appoint agent/ licensee and may exercise for civil remedy in case of infringement of rights. Researchers ’ Rights : Researcher can use any of the registered variety under the Act for conducting experiment or research. This includes the use of a variety as an initial source of variety for the purpose of developing another variety but repeated use needs prior permission of the registered breeder ..

Farmers' Rights A farmer who has evolved or developed a new variety is entitled for registration and protection in like manner as a breeder of a variety; Farmers variety can also be registered as an extant variety; A farmer can save, use, sow, re-sow, exchange, share or sell his farm produce including seed of a variety protected under the PPV&FR Act, 2001 in the same manner as he was entitled before the coming into force of this Act provided farmer shall not be entitled to sell branded seed of a variety protected under the PPV&FR Act, 2001; Farmers are eligible for recognition and rewards for the conservation of Plant Genetic Resources of land races and wild relatives of economic plants; There is also a provision for compensation to the farmers for non-performance of variety under Section 39 (2) of the Act, 2001 and Farmer shall not be liable to pay any fee in any proceeding before the Authority or Registrar or the Tribunal or the High Court under the Act..

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACT. To implement the provisions of the Act the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare established the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority on 11" November, 2005. The Chairperson is the Chief Executive of the Authority. Besides the Chairperson, the Authority has 15 members, as notified by the Government of India (GOI). Eight of them are ex-officio members representing various Departments/ Ministries, three from SAUs and the State Governments, one representative each for farmers, tribal organization, seed industry and women organization associated with agricultural activities are nominated by the Central Government. The Registrar General is the ex-officio Member Secretary of the Authority..

General Functions of the Authority Registration of new plant varieties, essentially derived varieties (EDV), extant varieties; Developing DUS (Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability) test guidelines for new plant species; Developing characterization and documentation of varieties registered; Compulsory cataloging facilities for all variety of plants; Documentation, indexing and cataloguing of farmers' varieties; Recognizing and rewarding farmers, community of farmers, particularly tribal and rural community engaged in conservation and improvement; Preservation of plant genetic resources of economic plants and their wild relatives; Maintenance of the National Register of Plant Varieties and Maintenance of National Gene Bank..

REGISTRATION OF VARIETIES. A variety is eligible for registration under the Act if it essentially fulfills the criteria of Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS). The Central Government issues notification in official Gazettes specifying the genera and species for the purpose of registration of varieties. So far, the Central Government has notified 157 crop species for the purpose of registration. The PPV&FR Authority has developed "Guidelines for the Conduct of Species Specific Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability ” tests or "Specific Guidelines" for individual crop species ..

FEES FOR REGISTRATION. Application for registration of plant varieties should be accompanied with the fee of registration prescribed by the Authority. Fee for registration for different types of variety is as under:.

DUS TEST CENTERS. Authority has notified DUS test Centers for different crops with a mandate for maintaining and multiplication of reference collection, example varieties and generation of database for DUS descriptors as per DUS guidelines of respective crops..

BENEFIT SHARING. The benefit sharing is one of the most important ingredients of the farmers' rights. Section 26 provides benefits sharing and the claims can be submitted by the citizens of India or firms or non-governmental organization (NGOs) formed or established in India. Depending upon the extent and nature of the use of genetic material of the claimant in the development of the variety along with commercial utility and demand in the market of the variety breeder will deposit the amount in the Gene Fund. The amount deposited will be paid to the claimant from National Gene Fund..

RIGHTS OF COMMUNITY. It is compensation to village or local communities for their significant contribution in the evolution of variety which has been registered under the Act. Any person/group of persons/governmental or non- governmental organization, on behalf of any village/local community in India, can file in any notified centre, claim for contribution in the evolution of any variety..

PLANT VARIETIES PROTECTION APPELLATE TRIBUNAL. There is transitory provision by which it is provided that till the PVPAT is established the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) will exercise the jurisdiction of PVPAT. Consequently the Plant Varieties Protection Appellate Tribunal (PVPAT) has been established by appointing Technical Member. All orders or decisions of the Registrar of Authority relating to registration of variety and orders or decisions of the Registrar relating to registration as agent or licensee can be appealed in the Tribunal. Further , all orders or decisions of Authority relating to benefit sharing, revocation of compulsory license and payment of compensation can also be appealed in the Tribunal. The decisions of the PVPAT can be challenged in High Court. The Tribunal shall dispose of the appeal within one year..

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