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VI.
Protection of New Varieties of Agricultural and Forestry Plants
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Proceeding from the actual conditions of China and on the basis of earnestly summing up and borrowing from international experience, the Chinese government has set up and carried out a series of systems and measures for the protection of new varieties of plants, thus fully guaranteeing the legitimate rights and interests of the investment bodies involved. On October 1, 1997, the government began implementing the "Regulations on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants," greatly expanding the scope of IPR protection in China. To supplement the implementation of the "Regulations on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants," the Chinese government has in succession promulgated and implemented such regulations as the "Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (Agriculture)," "Rules for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (Forestry)," "Regulations on Agency of New Agricultural Plant Variety Rights," "Regulations on Handling Cases of Infringement of New Agricultural Plant Variety Rights," and "Regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture on the Work of the Reexamination Board for New Varieties of Plants," providing legal guarantees for the rapid development of new varieties of plants. In recent years, the government has set up the Office of Protection of New Varieties of Plants and the Reexamination Board for New Varieties of Plants at the Ministry of Agriculture and State Forestry Administration, respectively, forming an institutional protection system combining examination and approval agencies, law-enforcement organizations, intermediary service organizations and other rights protection organizations. Meanwhile, a technological support system has been established, which includes the Center for the Preservation of Breeding Materials of New Varieties of Agricultural Plants, Center for Testing of New Varieties of Plants and its 14 sub-centers, and the Center for the Testing of New Varieties of Forest Plants and its five sub-centers and two molecule determination labs. To ensure scientific and authoritative examination of plant variety rights, and drawing on the international standards for testing new varieties of plants, the relevant authorities have, based on the actual conditions of China, formulated guides for testing 57 new varieties of plants, including corn, rice, poplar and peony, of which 18 have been promulgated and implemented as national or industrial standards. The government has issued and implemented five lists of protected new varieties of agricultural plants and four lists of protected new varieties of forest plants, which cover 119 genera and species, including 41 agricultural plants and 78 forest plants. The numbers are far higher than the minimum numbers required by the "International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants." By the end of 2004, the Ministry of Agriculture had handled 2,046 applications for plant variety rights. The number of applications handled in 1999 was 115, and by 2004 it reached 735, indicating an average annual increase of 44.9 percent. Among all the applications, there were 1,875 for field crops, 87 for vegetables, 52 for fruit trees and 32 for decorative plants. A total of 2,174 applications were from scientific, technological and educational institutions, and 772 from enterprises and individuals, which included 32 from foreign enterprises and individuals. After examination, 503 applications were granted the variety rights. By the end of 2004, the State Forestry Administration had handled 305 applications for variety rights, including 64 from France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the United States, and granted 72 new plant variety rights. The involved plants included Chinese rose, peony, Christmas flower, azalea, poplar, Chinese chestnut, apricot, eucalyptus and walnut. Of them, 253 applications were for decorative arbors, accounting for 82.95 percent of the total. The applications were mainly from Chinese research institutions, foreign individuals engaging in breeding and Chinese universities, which respectively accounted for 50.2 percent, 14.4 percent and 11.1 percent of the total. Since 2001, the government began experimental law enforcement on the protection of new varieties of plants in 12 selected provinces and municipalities, and then gradually spread the work across the country. By the end of 2004, 17 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) had handled 863 cases of infringement of new agricultural plant variety rights and of faking new agricultural plant varieties.
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