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Report
No.240601 |
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- Domestic - |
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Breeder's Right Infringement to Be Penalized More Severely The Study Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) put together a final report on plant breeder protection on December 19, 2006 that would reinforce protection of plant varieties. The report incorporates heavier penalties against infringement of breeder's right and increases obligation on distributors of seeds and seedlings to make efforts to label registered varieties. It also recommends reducing the time period for screening application for variety registration down to two and half years, and also increasing the number of 'Variety Protection G-Men' who will be assigned to stations all over the country. The final report will, now, be reflected in a bill to amend the Seeds and Seedlings Law scheduled to be submitted to regular session of the parliament in 2007. The final report made a point of obligating plant breeders etc. to endeavor to label when selling a registered variety, indicating that the variety is registered under the plant registration system. The purpose is to prevent infringement of breeder's right to take place without intention and make it easier for farmers who make use of the variety to understand it. Penalties against infringement are to be raised from less than three years in prison or less than three million yen (one hundred million for entities incorporated) in fines to less than ten years in prison or less than ten million yen (three hundred million for entities incorporated) in fines. The time required for screening application for acquisition of breeder's right, which, at present, takes over three years, will be reduced by increasing the number of screening staff and also by reinforcing the system at the National Center for Seeds and Seedlings. As regards collaboration with overseas' countries, an agreement was reached last November with European plant variety agency to allow mutual use of report papers on screened applications. Wider international collaboration will be sought in the months ahead. The final report also pointed to the needs to make a survey of present status of self-multiplication on farms with a view to preparing for an environment which could be free of possible confusion on farm level. MAFF says "in order to make further study on the subject, it is necessary to start with grappling of facts because international community and Japan take opposite approaches (meaning that while the international rules forbid self-multiplication of seeds on farms, the Seeds and Seedlings Law of Japan recognize farmers' freedom in this respect as a matter of principle)." The Study Group met nine times since last July and drafted the final report after hearing widely from the general public. |
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