Seed Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised in 2021)
Seed Law of the People's Republic of China (Revised in 2021)
Seed Law of the People's Republic of China
Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 105
December 24, 2021
(Adopted at the 16th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on July 8, 2000, amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Seed Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 11th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on August 28, 2004, amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Law of the People's Republic of China on Protection of Cultural Relics and Other Eleven Laws adopted at the 3rd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on June 29, 2013, revised at the 17th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on November 4, 2015, and amended for the third time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Seed Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 32nd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on December 24, 2021.)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Protection of Germplasm Resources
Chapter III Selective Breeding, Review and Decision, and Registration of Varieties
Chapter IV Protection of New Varieties
Chapter V Production and Operation of Seeds
Chapter VI Seed-Related Supervision and Administration
Chapter VII Import and Export of Seeds and International Cooperation
Chapter VIII Support Measures
Chapter IX Legal Liability
Chapter X Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is formulated for the purposes of protecting and making rational exploitation of germplasm resources, regulating the selective breeding of varieties, the production and business operation of seeds and seed-related administration, strengthening scientific and technological research in the seed industry, encouraging breeding innovation, protecting the new plant variety right, safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of seed producers, operators and users, improving the quality of seeds, developing a modern seed industry, ensuring national food security, and promoting the development of agriculture and forestry.
Article 2 This Law shall apply to the activities, such as the selective breeding of varieties, the seed production and business operation and seed-related administration within the territory of the People's Republic of China.
Seeds referred to in this Law mean the planting or propagating material of crops and forest trees, such as grains, fruits, roots, stems, seedlings, sprouts, leaves and flowers.
Article 3 The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall be respectively in charge of the work related to crop and forest tree seeds throughout the country. The competent departments for agriculture and rural affairs and the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the local people's governments at or above the county level shall be respectively in charge of the work related to crop and forest tree seeds within their administrative regions.
The people's governments at all levels and their relevant departments shall take measures to strengthen seed-related law enforcement and supervision, and punish illegal acts that infringe the lawful rights and interests of farmers in accordance with law.
Article 4 The state supports the protection of germplasm resources and the selective breeding, production, replacement, and promotion of improved varieties, encourages the integration of selective breeding of varieties and the seed production and business operation, and rewards the entities and individuals that achieve outstanding successes in the work such as the protection of germplasm resources and the selective breeding and promotion of improved varieties.
Article 5 The people's governments at or above the provincial level shall make development plans for the seed industry in accordance with the guidelines for developing agriculture with the help of science and education and in light of the need for the development of agriculture and the forestry, and ensure the implementation of such plans.
Article 6 The people's government at or above the provincial level establishes a seed reserve system, mainly to meet the need for production in times of calamities and to redistribute surplus seeds to ensure the security of agriculture and forestry. The reserved seeds shall be regularly inspected and replaced. The specific measures for seed reserves shall be formulated by the State Council.
Article 7 The selective breeding, trial, review and decision procedure, and promotion of genetically modified plant varieties shall be subject to safety assessment, and strict safety control measures shall be taken. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall strengthen tracing and regulation, and publish the information on the review and decision and the promotion of genetically modified plant varieties in time. The specific measures in this respect shall be formulated by the State Council.
Chapter II Protection of Germplasm Resources
Article 8 The state protects germplasm resources in accordance with law, and no entity or individual shall misappropriate or damage germplasm resources.
Collecting or cutting plants with key state-protected natural germplasm resources is prohibited. Where such collection or cutting is required under special circumstances such as scientific research, it shall be subject to approval by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council or under the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government.
Article 9 The state, in a planned way, surveys, collects, sorts out, identifies, registers, conserves, exchanges, and exploits germplasm resources, focuses on collecting valuable and rare, endangered and endemic resources and distinctive local varieties, and regularly publishes the catalogs of available germplasm resources. The specific measures in this respect shall be formulated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council.
Article 10 The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall establish banks, reserves, or protected areas of germplasm resources. The competent departments for agriculture and rural affairs and the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of the need, establish banks, reserves, or protected areas of germplasm resources. Germplasm resources in such banks, reserves, and protected areas are public resources that shall be accessible for exploitation in accordance with law.
The occupation of any bank, reserve, or protected area of germplasm resources must be approved by the founder of the said bank, reserve, or protected area.
Article 11 The state has sovereignty over germplasm resources. Any entity or individual shall make an application to the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council for approval and simultaneously submit a benefit-sharing plan before providing germplasm resources abroad or cooperating with a foreign institution or individual in research on germplasm resource exploitation. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council may entrust the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government to receive application materials. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall inform the competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council of the approval.
Any introduction of germplasm resources from abroad shall be handled in accordance with the relevant regulations of the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council.
Chapter III Selective Breeding, Review and Decision Procedure, and Registration of Varieties
Article 12 The state supports scientific research institutes and higher education institutions in carrying out research on the basic, frontier, or applied technologies concerning variety breeding and on biological breeding technologies, and supports research for public interests such as the breeding of conventional crop varieties and major afforestation tree varieties, and the selective breeding of vegetative propagating material.
The state encourages seed enterprises to fully exploit the research for public interests to breed superior varieties of independent intellectual property rights. The state encourages seed enterprises to build technological research and development platforms with scientific research institutes and higher education institutions and to tackle key problems in the breeding of main food crops and economically important crops, and forms a market-oriented, benefit-sharing and risk-sharing technological innovation system for the seed industry which combines the efforts of industries, universities and research institutes.
The state strengthens the capacity for scientific and technological innovation in the seed industry, promotes the translation of relevant scientific and technological research, and safeguards the lawful rights and interests of scientific and technical personnel in the industry.
Article 13 The patent rights on breeding inventions and the rights of new plant varieties, which are the research results of government-funded projects, shall be acquired by the authorized project contractors in accordance with law, except for those involving national security, national interests, or major public interests.
Transfer and licensing of the research results of breeding projects mainly funded by the governments shall be carried out publicly in accordance with law, and shall not be done secretly.
Article 14 Where the earnings of entities or individuals are reduced because the competent department of forestry and grassland establishes test plantations, trial plantations, superior tree varieties collection areas or gene banks for selective breeding of improved forest tree varieties, the competent department of forestry and grassland that approves the establishment of the abovementioned areas shall make financial compensation to the entities or individuals in accordance with the relevant regulations of the state.
Article 15 The state implements a review and decision system for main crop and forest tree varieties. Main crop or forest tree varieties shall pass the national-level or provincial-level review and decision before promotion. Main forest tree varieties determined by the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be subject to review and decision at the provincial level.
Varieties subject to review and decision shall meet the distinctness, uniformity, and stability requirements.
The review and decision measures of main crop or forest tree varieties shall be formulated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council. Such measures shall embody the principles of impartiality, openness, scientificity, and efficiency, be conducive to the improvement and coordination of the yield, quality, resistance and other aspects, and be conducive to the promotion of the varieties that meet market and consumption needs. In formulating and amending such measures, the opinions of breeders, seed users, seed producers and operators, and representatives of the relevant industries shall be fully heard.
Article 16 The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council or under the people's government of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall respectively set up a review and decision committee for crop varieties or one for forest tree varieties, which are composed of professionals. The variety review and decision committee shall be in charge of the review and decision of main crop or forest tree varieties and create review and decision files, such as application documents, data of review and decision trials, seed samples, opinions and conclusions of review and decision to ensure traceability. The opinions put forward during the review and decision shall be included in the information published on a variety that has been adopted in the review and decision in accordance with law for supervision.
A recusal system is implemented in the review and decision of seed varieties. Committee members and staff members of variety review and decision committees and relevant technicians responsible for testing or trial shall be devoted to their duties and be impartial and honest. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department for forestry and grassland under the people's government at or above the provincial level and the relevant authorities shall, in accordance with law, promptly handle the illegal acts of any of the aforementioned persons as reported by any entity or individual or discovered through supervision and inspection.
Article 17 Where seed enterprises integrate the selective breeding of varieties and the seed production and business operation, and comply with the relevant conditions prescribed by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council, the enterprises may, in accordance with the measures for review and decision, complete by themselves the trial on independently developed main crop or forest tree varieties; if such trial results reach the review and decision standards, the variety review and decision committees shall issue review and decision certificates. The seed enterprises shall be responsible for the authenticity of the trial data, ensure traceability and accept supervision by the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people's governments at or above the provincial level as well as by the public.
Article 18 Where crop or forest tree varieties fail to be adopted in the review and decision and the applicants have objections thereto, they may apply for a reexamination to the original review and decision committee or to the review and decision committee at the national level.
Article 19 A crop variety or an improved forest tree variety that has been adopted in the review and decision at the national level shall be announced by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council, and may be promoted in suitable ecoregions throughout the country.
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Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 105
December 24, 2021
(Adopted at the 16th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on July 8, 2000, amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Seed Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 11th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People's Congress on August 28, 2004, amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Law of the People's Republic of China on Protection of Cultural Relics and Other Eleven Laws adopted at the 3rd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on June 29, 2013, revised at the 17th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on November 4, 2015, and amended for the third time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Seed Law of the People's Republic of China adopted at the 32nd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on December 24, 2021.)
Contents
Chapter I General Provisions
Chapter II Protection of Germplasm Resources
Chapter III Selective Breeding, Review and Decision, and Registration of Varieties
Chapter IV Protection of New Varieties
Chapter V Production and Operation of Seeds
Chapter VI Seed-Related Supervision and Administration
Chapter VII Import and Export of Seeds and International Cooperation
Chapter VIII Support Measures
Chapter IX Legal Liability
Chapter X Supplementary Provisions
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 This Law is formulated for the purposes of protecting and making rational exploitation of germplasm resources, regulating the selective breeding of varieties, the production and business operation of seeds and seed-related administration, strengthening scientific and technological research in the seed industry, encouraging breeding innovation, protecting the new plant variety right, safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of seed producers, operators and users, improving the quality of seeds, developing a modern seed industry, ensuring national food security, and promoting the development of agriculture and forestry.
Article 2 This Law shall apply to the activities, such as the selective breeding of varieties, the seed production and business operation and seed-related administration within the territory of the People's Republic of China.
Seeds referred to in this Law mean the planting or propagating material of crops and forest trees, such as grains, fruits, roots, stems, seedlings, sprouts, leaves and flowers.
Article 3 The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall be respectively in charge of the work related to crop and forest tree seeds throughout the country. The competent departments for agriculture and rural affairs and the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the local people's governments at or above the county level shall be respectively in charge of the work related to crop and forest tree seeds within their administrative regions.
The people's governments at all levels and their relevant departments shall take measures to strengthen seed-related law enforcement and supervision, and punish illegal acts that infringe the lawful rights and interests of farmers in accordance with law.
Article 4 The state supports the protection of germplasm resources and the selective breeding, production, replacement, and promotion of improved varieties, encourages the integration of selective breeding of varieties and the seed production and business operation, and rewards the entities and individuals that achieve outstanding successes in the work such as the protection of germplasm resources and the selective breeding and promotion of improved varieties.
Article 5 The people's governments at or above the provincial level shall make development plans for the seed industry in accordance with the guidelines for developing agriculture with the help of science and education and in light of the need for the development of agriculture and the forestry, and ensure the implementation of such plans.
Article 6 The people's government at or above the provincial level establishes a seed reserve system, mainly to meet the need for production in times of calamities and to redistribute surplus seeds to ensure the security of agriculture and forestry. The reserved seeds shall be regularly inspected and replaced. The specific measures for seed reserves shall be formulated by the State Council.
Article 7 The selective breeding, trial, review and decision procedure, and promotion of genetically modified plant varieties shall be subject to safety assessment, and strict safety control measures shall be taken. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall strengthen tracing and regulation, and publish the information on the review and decision and the promotion of genetically modified plant varieties in time. The specific measures in this respect shall be formulated by the State Council.
Chapter II Protection of Germplasm Resources
Article 8 The state protects germplasm resources in accordance with law, and no entity or individual shall misappropriate or damage germplasm resources.
Collecting or cutting plants with key state-protected natural germplasm resources is prohibited. Where such collection or cutting is required under special circumstances such as scientific research, it shall be subject to approval by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council or under the people's government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government.
Article 9 The state, in a planned way, surveys, collects, sorts out, identifies, registers, conserves, exchanges, and exploits germplasm resources, focuses on collecting valuable and rare, endangered and endemic resources and distinctive local varieties, and regularly publishes the catalogs of available germplasm resources. The specific measures in this respect shall be formulated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council.
Article 10 The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall establish banks, reserves, or protected areas of germplasm resources. The competent departments for agriculture and rural affairs and the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of the need, establish banks, reserves, or protected areas of germplasm resources. Germplasm resources in such banks, reserves, and protected areas are public resources that shall be accessible for exploitation in accordance with law.
The occupation of any bank, reserve, or protected area of germplasm resources must be approved by the founder of the said bank, reserve, or protected area.
Article 11 The state has sovereignty over germplasm resources. Any entity or individual shall make an application to the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council for approval and simultaneously submit a benefit-sharing plan before providing germplasm resources abroad or cooperating with a foreign institution or individual in research on germplasm resource exploitation. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council may entrust the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government to receive application materials. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall inform the competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council of the approval.
Any introduction of germplasm resources from abroad shall be handled in accordance with the relevant regulations of the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council.
Chapter III Selective Breeding, Review and Decision Procedure, and Registration of Varieties
Article 12 The state supports scientific research institutes and higher education institutions in carrying out research on the basic, frontier, or applied technologies concerning variety breeding and on biological breeding technologies, and supports research for public interests such as the breeding of conventional crop varieties and major afforestation tree varieties, and the selective breeding of vegetative propagating material.
The state encourages seed enterprises to fully exploit the research for public interests to breed superior varieties of independent intellectual property rights. The state encourages seed enterprises to build technological research and development platforms with scientific research institutes and higher education institutions and to tackle key problems in the breeding of main food crops and economically important crops, and forms a market-oriented, benefit-sharing and risk-sharing technological innovation system for the seed industry which combines the efforts of industries, universities and research institutes.
The state strengthens the capacity for scientific and technological innovation in the seed industry, promotes the translation of relevant scientific and technological research, and safeguards the lawful rights and interests of scientific and technical personnel in the industry.
Article 13 The patent rights on breeding inventions and the rights of new plant varieties, which are the research results of government-funded projects, shall be acquired by the authorized project contractors in accordance with law, except for those involving national security, national interests, or major public interests.
Transfer and licensing of the research results of breeding projects mainly funded by the governments shall be carried out publicly in accordance with law, and shall not be done secretly.
Article 14 Where the earnings of entities or individuals are reduced because the competent department of forestry and grassland establishes test plantations, trial plantations, superior tree varieties collection areas or gene banks for selective breeding of improved forest tree varieties, the competent department of forestry and grassland that approves the establishment of the abovementioned areas shall make financial compensation to the entities or individuals in accordance with the relevant regulations of the state.
Article 15 The state implements a review and decision system for main crop and forest tree varieties. Main crop or forest tree varieties shall pass the national-level or provincial-level review and decision before promotion. Main forest tree varieties determined by the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be subject to review and decision at the provincial level.
Varieties subject to review and decision shall meet the distinctness, uniformity, and stability requirements.
The review and decision measures of main crop or forest tree varieties shall be formulated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council. Such measures shall embody the principles of impartiality, openness, scientificity, and efficiency, be conducive to the improvement and coordination of the yield, quality, resistance and other aspects, and be conducive to the promotion of the varieties that meet market and consumption needs. In formulating and amending such measures, the opinions of breeders, seed users, seed producers and operators, and representatives of the relevant industries shall be fully heard.
Article 16 The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council or under the people's government of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall respectively set up a review and decision committee for crop varieties or one for forest tree varieties, which are composed of professionals. The variety review and decision committee shall be in charge of the review and decision of main crop or forest tree varieties and create review and decision files, such as application documents, data of review and decision trials, seed samples, opinions and conclusions of review and decision to ensure traceability. The opinions put forward during the review and decision shall be included in the information published on a variety that has been adopted in the review and decision in accordance with law for supervision.
A recusal system is implemented in the review and decision of seed varieties. Committee members and staff members of variety review and decision committees and relevant technicians responsible for testing or trial shall be devoted to their duties and be impartial and honest. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department for forestry and grassland under the people's government at or above the provincial level and the relevant authorities shall, in accordance with law, promptly handle the illegal acts of any of the aforementioned persons as reported by any entity or individual or discovered through supervision and inspection.
Article 17 Where seed enterprises integrate the selective breeding of varieties and the seed production and business operation, and comply with the relevant conditions prescribed by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council, the enterprises may, in accordance with the measures for review and decision, complete by themselves the trial on independently developed main crop or forest tree varieties; if such trial results reach the review and decision standards, the variety review and decision committees shall issue review and decision certificates. The seed enterprises shall be responsible for the authenticity of the trial data, ensure traceability and accept supervision by the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people's governments at or above the provincial level as well as by the public.
Article 18 Where crop or forest tree varieties fail to be adopted in the review and decision and the applicants have objections thereto, they may apply for a reexamination to the original review and decision committee or to the review and decision committee at the national level.
Article 19 A crop variety or an improved forest tree variety that has been adopted in the review and decision at the national level shall be announced by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council, and may be promoted in suitable ecoregions throughout the country.
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