Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 24, 2019 Title: Cracking Down on Infringement, Encouraging Innovation... How does the newly revised Seed Law escort the development of China's seed industry?
Xinhua News Agency", reporters Hu Lu and Zhou Mian
The 32nd session of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress, which closed on the 24th, made the latest amendments to the seed law.
As an "agricultural chip", seeds are related to "China's rice bowl". How will the newly revised Seed Law exert its strength to escort the development of China's seed industry? The "Xinhua Viewpoint" reporter interviewed relevant experts.
Corn harvesting site in Beilin District, Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province (drone photo) Photo by Yang Minghui, Xinhua News Agency
Highlight 1: From the production of propagating materials to the harvest of materials, the whole chain protects the rights of new plant varieties
In recent years, various localities have intensified the law enforcement of the seed industry, but the phenomenon of seed infringement such as counterfeiting and arbitrage is still frequent, and what is more difficult is that some are difficult to collect evidence and it is difficult to protect rights, resulting in the phenomenon of "who engages in primitive innovation, who is the wronged head". The person in charge of a certain industry enterprise in Hunan said that the company will find three or four infringements every year.
Compared with the Seed Law amended in 2015, the newly revised Seed Law expands the scope of protection and protection of plant new variety rights, extending the scope of protection from the propagation material of authorized varieties to harvest materials, and extending the protection link from production, reproduction and sales to production, reproduction and processing for reproduction, promising to sell, sell, import, export, storage, etc.
"The newly revised Seed Law expands the content and scope of protection of the rights of new plant varieties, and will enable the owner of the variety rights or interested parties to have more opportunities to collect evidence and claim their rights." Liu Luxiang, deputy director of the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said.
Liu Luxiang explained that protecting the right to new plant varieties from the whole chain can solve many practical problems in seed infringement, so as to better protect the legitimate rights and interests of right holders. For example, plant varieties such as forest fruits are asexual reproduction, and through grafting and breeding of cuttings, it is difficult to obtain evidence from the production of propagating materials once they are infringed. According to the new law, this situation can be collected by verifying the harvested products and protecting the property rights and interests of the varieties.
In order to improve the deterrent effect on infringement of the rights of new plant varieties, the revised Seed Law has further increased the amount of punitive damages. Where the amount of the loss of the right holder or the benefits obtained by the infringer or the royalties for variety rights can be determined, the upper limit of the amount of compensation shall be increased from three times to five times. Where it is difficult to determine the amount, the compensation limit will be increased from three million yuan to five million yuan.
Highlight 2: Establish a substantial derivative variety system and strengthen the protection of original innovation
Seeds are an important basis for ensuring national food security and the effective supply of important crops. Although on the issue of "whether there is or not, to ensure survival", China's seed source can meet the demand based on the domestic, but some varieties still have a big gap in terms of good seed source and high quality, and it is necessary to continue to create a good atmosphere to encourage independent innovation.
Corn breeding experts observe the growth of corn at the Sanya South Breeding Base Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Liyun photographed
At present, the yield level of corn and soybeans in China is still relatively low, less than 60% of the world's advanced level. Seeds such as bell peppers and shelf-resistant tomatoes in vegetables are still imported from abroad. One-third of commercial grass seeds need to be imported, and 80% of the high-quality and high-yield alfalfa species are foreign varieties.
The revised Seed Law regulates substantially derived varieties. Substantially derived varieties refer to varieties derived from the original variety, or derived from the substantial derivatives of the original variety, which are obviously different from the original variety, and in addition to the differences in traits caused by the derivation, they are the same as the original variety in expressing the basic traits produced by the genotype or combination of genotypes of the original variety.
"The proposal to establish a substantial derivative variety system is a major measure to strengthen the protection of original innovation, and it is also an important highlight of the new seed law." Li Jingpeng, senior engineer at the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said.
At present, the breeding of many varieties in China stays on the modification and improvement of the main popularized varieties and core parents, resulting in a narrow genetic basis of varieties, many approved varieties but few breakthrough varieties, and serious homogenization problems. Li Jingpeng said that the implementation of the substantive derivative variety system and the clarification of the substantive derivative varieties need to obtain the consent of the owner of the plant new variety rights of the original variety before entering the market circulation, which will further strengthen the protection of original innovation.
"The more innovative the traits, the more highly protected they should be." Liu Luxiang believes that it is foreseeable that after the implementation of the revised seed law, the approval of some varieties that are highly similar to the core parental characteristics will be restricted, and the total number of varieties will be greatly reduced. In this way, the seed intellectual property rights will be better protected, truly and effectively stimulate the original innovation of the seed industry, and at the same time, it will also help to activate the international cooperation of science and technology in the seed industry and introduce the latest excellent varieties from abroad.
Highlight three: increase the crackdown on fake and inferior seeds, so that the seed market can develop healthily
Seeds preserved in the germplasm resource bank Courtesy of Xinhua News Agency, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Before planting in the autumn this year, some seed dealers in northern Anhui reported that some criminals sold the "three noes" wheat seeds on the packaging bags that had no production date, no manufacturer name, and no state approval number to local farmers. Because the price per catty is lower than that of regular seeds, many farmers choose to buy them in order to reduce costs. However, once a problem occurs, not only will the legitimate rights and interests of farmers not be effectively guaranteed, but it may even cause hidden dangers to food security.
The revised Seed Law further increases the penalties for fake and inferior seeds. The amount of fines for the production and operation of fake seeds will be raised from "10,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan or less" to "20,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan"; the amount of fines for the production and operation of inferior seeds will be increased from "5,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan" to "10,000 yuan to 100,000 yuan".
Those who no longer have the conditions for isolation and cultivation of propagating seeds, or no longer have seed production sites without quarantine pests or seed collection forests determined by the competent forestry and grassland departments of people's governments at or above the county level, continue to engage in seed production, and do not implement seed inspection and quarantine procedures for seed production, will be investigated for legal responsibility.
"Further intensifying the crackdown on fake and inferior seeds in the production and operation, and standardizing the production of seeds, especially the production inspection and quarantine management of fruit tree seedlings, is conducive to protecting the interests of the people and safeguarding the healthy and safe development of the seed market." Li Jingpeng said.
Highlight 4: Strengthen the protection of germplasm resources and consolidate the foundation of seed industry innovation
The revised Seed Law also specifically mentions the collection of rare, endangered, endemic resources and characteristic local varieties in the provisions of the State's planned census, collection, collation, identification, registration, preservation, exchange and utilization of germplasm resources.
In vitro preservation library taken at the Wildlife Germplasm Resource Bank in southwest China, October 20, 2021 Xinhua News Agency reporter Jiang Wenyao
It is understood that due to a variety of factors, the decline in the types and quantities of germplasm resources in China is obvious, and the risk of disappearing from local varieties and wild relatives of major crops has intensified. At present, the proportion of local varieties of major food crops is as high as 71.8%. Some excellent germplasm resources of forests and grasses are lost from time to time through trade, scientific research, cooperation and other channels.
Ma Hongyuan, a researcher at the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that further strengthening the protection of germplasm resources from a legal perspective is conducive to promoting the formation of a conservation and utilization mechanism of "using to preserve the belt and using to promote conservation", which will provide a better germplasm foundation for future breeding innovation, and even has great significance for global biodiversity.