Protection Of Plant Varieties And Farmers' Rights (PPVFR)

Introduction

India is one of the twelve megadiversity countries of the world and is considered as a major centre of domestication of crop plants. Out of this rich biodiversity, the ancient farming communities from time immemorial had grown and developed a rich cornucopia of crop plants through selection and adaptations. India has over 45000 species of plants and fungi, representing 11 percent of the world’s flora. The plant genetic resources provide essential food, fodder, fibre and other utilities for the civilization to sustain.

Protection of Plant Varieties in India

To provide 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 had been  considered necessary to recognise and protect the rights of the farmers in respect of their contribution made at any time in conserving, improving and making available the plant genetic resources for the development of the new plant varieties. Moreover, to accelerate agricultural development it is necessary to protect the plant breeders’ rights to stimulate investment for research and development for the development of the new plant varieties. Such a protection is likely to facilitate the growth of seed industry which will ensure the availability of right quality seeds and planting materials to the Farmers. India being a signatory of Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO), adopted a sui generis system for plant variety protection. To give effect to the aforesaid objectives, the Protection of Plant Verities and Farmers’ Rights bill was introduced in the parliament of India.
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Bill having being passed by both the houses of the Parliament received the assent of the President of India on 30th October, 2001.
Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority was established by the Government of India in exercise of power conferred by Sub Section (1) of the Section 3 of the PPV&FR Act,2001 by Gazette  Notification (S.O. 1589-E) on 11th November,2005. The PPV&FR Authority operates under the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of  India.
Meanwhile, two branch offices : one at Guwahati and the other at Ranchi were established during 2011.The Establishment of the branch offices were  notified in  the Gazette of India vide S.O. No. 929 (E) dated April 27.04.2012. .The  states of Assam, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh   come under its territorial limit of Guwahati branch office, while the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Chattishgarh, Orissa and Andamand and Nicober Islands  come under the territorial limit of the Ranchi branch. Another four branch offices of the Authority will be opened shortly in the country.
The objectives of the Branch Offices are to facilitate the registration of Varieties (New, Extant and Essentially Derived Varieties ) in the PPV&FR Authority and to encourage the farmers for conserving the plant genetic resources and also cataloguing of all varieties (Released & Notified/Traditional varieties/Varieties in public domain/varieties which are not notified or under sale as Truthfully  labelled seed) in the territorial limits of the branch offices.  All applications received from these states are required to be routed through the respective branch offices.

General functions of the Authority
The general function of the Authority includes:

1. Registration of New, Extant and Essentially derived varieties.
2.  Promote & encourage the development of New Plant varieties.
3. Protect the rights of the farmers and the breeders.
4. Indexing of varieties registered under this Act.
5. Documentation, indexing and cataloguing of Farmers’ varieties.
6. Ensuring seed availability with the provisions of Compulsory Licencing.
7. Recognizing and rewarding farmers and community.
8. Maintenance of the National Register of Plant Varieties.
9. Update of database of all plants varieties.
10. Maintenance of National Gene Bank.
11. Developing DUS test criteria.
12. Formulation of general, specific and  special test guidelines

Rights under the Act

1. Breeders’ Right:  Breeders will have the exclusive rights to produce, sell , market, distribute, import or export the protected variety. Breeders can appoint agents/licensee and may exercise for civil remeady in case of infringement of rights.
2. Researchers’ Right: Researchers can use any of the registered variety under the Act for conducting experiment or research. However, authorization of the breeder is required where repeated use of such variety as a parental line is necessary for commercial production of such other newly developed variety.
3. Farmers’ Rights:  Farmers have right to save, use, exchange, share and sell farm produce of a protected variety, except sale of branded seed. Farmers are recognized as breeders, conservers. Preservers and cultivators of traditional varieties. Farmers have the rights to register the  extant varieties, including farmer’s varieties with exemption  from payment of fees.

Registration: Central Government by notification in Official Gazettes specifies the genera and species for the purpose of registration of varieties. A variety is eligible for registration under the Act if it essentially fulfils the criteria of Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS). As per section 29.2 of the PPV & FR Act, the Central Government issues notification in Official Gazettes specifying the genera and species for the purpose of registration of varieties. So far,
So far the Central Government has notified 192 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. The purpose of these specific guidelines is to provide detailed practical guidance for the harmonized examination of DUS and, in particular, to identify appropriate characteristics for the examination of DUS and production of harmonized variety descriptions.

Who can help in the process of registration?

1. Krishi Vignan Kendra
2. State Agricultural Universities
3. State Bio- Diversity Board
4. Bio- Diversity Management Committee
5. State Agricultural Departments
6. NGO associated with agricultural development
7. Farmers’ Cell of the PPV & FR Authority.

Registration Charges:

Sl. No.	Type of Variety	Registration fee
1	Essentially Derived Varieties/ New Varieties	Individual : Educational :   Commercial :	Rs.7000/- Rs.10000/- Rs.50000/-
2	Extant Varieties notified under  Section 5 of Seed Act,1966		Rs. 2000/-
3	Extant Varieties about which there is common knowledge	Individual :     Educational :     Commercial :	Rs.7000/- Rs.10000/- Rs.50000/-
4	Farmers’ Variety	No fee

Annual Fee

Sl. No	Type of variety	Fee for Registration
1	New variety	Rs. 2000/- plus 0.2 percent of the sales value of    the seeds of the registered variety during the previous year plus 1 percent of royalty, if any ,received during the previous year from the sale proceed of seeds of a registered variety.
2	Extant variety notified under section 5 of the seeds Act 1966 (54 of 1966)	Rs.  2000/- only
3	Extant variety other than the category specified above	Rs. 2000/- plus 0.1 percent of the sales value of seeds of the registered variety during the previous year plus 0.5 percent of royalty, if any ,received during the previous year from the sale proceed of seeds of a registered variety.

 

 

 

Annual fee shall be determined of the basis of declaration given by the registered breeder or agent or licence regarding the sales value of the seeds of the variety registered under the Act during the previous year and royalty , if any, received during the previous year from the sale proceed of seeds of the registered variety and verified by the Authority.

Pre requisite for filling and application from for registration

1. Denomination assigned to such variety
2. Accompanied by an affidavit that variety does not contain any gene or gene sequences involving terminator technology.
3. Complete passport data of parental lines with its geographical location in India and all such information relating to the contribution, if any, of any farmers(s), village, community institution or organization etc in breeding, evolving or developing the variety.
4. Characteristics of variety with description for Novelty, Distinctiveness, Uniformity and stability.
5. A declaration that genetic materials used for breeding of such variety has been lawfully acquired.
6. A breeder or other person making application for registration shall disclose the use of genetic material conserved by any tribal or rural families for improvement of such variety.

Registration of Farmers’ Varieties

1. Farmers’ varieties can be registered in the like manner as any other category of varieties.
2. A farmer, group of farmer or community may apply for the registration of a farmers’ variety.
3. There is no fee for the application and any other proceedings for the farmers.
4. A form has to be filled by the applicant and the complete form along with the seeds of the variety are to be submitted to the PPV & FR Authority.

Awards, Rewards and Recognition of farmers: The PPV & FR Authority confers the Plant Genome Savior Community Award, Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Rewards and & Plant Genome Saviour Farmer Recognitions every year. Plant Genome Savior Community Award is awarded to the community of farmers/farming community based organizations who have a long track record for conserving plant agro-biodiversity which is open to all Indian group of farmers, community of farmers, particularly the tribal and rural communities engaged in conservation, improvement and preservation of genetic resources of economic plants and their wild relatives particularly in the areas identified as agro bio-diversity hotspots. There shall be maximum of five awards in a year, consisting of a cash of Rs. Ten lakh each, a citation and a memento. The Authority also invites applications for the “Plant Genome Savior “Farmer Reward” & “Farmer Recognition” from the farmers engaged in the conservation of genetic resources of landraces and wild relatives of economic plants and their improvement through selection and preservation and the material so selected and preserved has been used as donors of gene in varieties registerable under the PPV&FR Act, 2001 (53 of 2001).  There shall be maximum of 10 rewards (comprising of citation, memento and cash of Rs.One lakh each) and 20 recognitions (consisting of a citation and memento) in a year.   It is essential for the applicants to forward their application through Chairperson or Secretary of the Concerned Panchayat Biodiversity Management Committee or Concerned District Agricultural Officer or Director of Research of concerned State Agriculture University or concerned District Tribal Development Office. Farmers whose applications are shortlisted for Reward and Recognition shall be required to deposit specified quantity of seeds or propagating material, in due time.

For more details, please visit the Officicial Web Site of PPV & FRA