The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001

(1) This Act may be called the Protection of PlantVarieties and Farmers Rights Act, 2001. (2) It extends to the whole of India. (3) It shall come into force on such date1as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint; and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act andany reference in any such provision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference tothe coming into force of that provision.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) Authority means the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authorityestablished under sub-section (1) of section 3; (b) benefit sharing, in relation to a variety, means such proportion of the benefit accruing to abreeder of such variety or such proportion of the benefit accruing to the breeder from an agent or alicensee of such variety, as the case may be, for which a claimant shall be entitled as determined bythe Authority under section 26. (c) breeder means a person or group of persons or a farmer or group of farmers or anyinstitution which has bred, evolved or developed any variety; 1***** (e) Chairperson means the Chairperson of the Authority appointed under clause (a) ofsub-section (5) of section 3; (f) convention country means a country which has acceded to an international convention forthe protection of plant varieties to which India has also acceded, or a country which has a law onprotection of plant varieties on the basis of which India has entered into an agreement for grantingplant breeders' right to the citizens of both the countries; (g) denomination, in relation to a variety or its propagating material or essentially derivedvariety or its propagating material, means the denomination of such variety or its propagating materialor essentially derived variety or its propagating material, as the case may be, expressed by means ofletters or a combination of letters and figures written in any language; (h) essential characteristics means such heritable traits of a plant variety which are determinedby the expression of one or more genes of other heritable determinants that contribute to the principlefeatures, performance or value of the plant variety; (i) essentially derived variety, in respect of a variety (the initial variety), shall be said to beessentially derived from such initial variety when it-- (i) is predominantly derived from such initial variety, or from a variety that itself ispredominantly derived from such initial variety, while retaining the expression of the essentialcharacteristics that results from the genotype or combination of genotype of such initial variety; (ii) is clearly distinguishable from such initial variety; and (iii) conforms (except for the differences which result from the act of derivation) to suchinitial variety in the expression of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype orcombination of genotype of such initial variety; (j) extant variety means a variety available in India which is-- (i) notified under section 5 of the Seeds Act, 1966 (54 of 1966); or (ii) farmers' variety; or (iii) a variety about which there is common knowledge; or (iv) any other variety which is in public domain; (k) farmer means any person who-- (i) cultivates crops by cultivating the land himself; or (ii) cultivates crops by directly supervising the cultivation of land through any other person;or (iii) conserves and preserves, severally or jointly, with any person any wild species ortraditional varieties or adds value to such wild species or traditional varieties through selectionand identification of their useful properties; (l) farmers variety means a variety which (i) has been traditionally cultivated and evolved by the farmers in their fields; or (ii) is a wild relative or land race of a variety about which the farmers possess the commonknowledge; (m) Gene Fund means the National Gene Fund constituted under sub-section (1) of section 45; 2***** (p) member means a member of the Authority appointed under clause (b) of sub-section (5) ofsection 3 and includes the member-secretary; 3[(q) “prescribed” means, (i) in relation to proceedings before a High Court, prescribed by rules made by the HighCourt; and (ii) in other cases, prescribed by rules made under this Act;] (r) propagating material means any plant or its component or part thereof including an intendedseed or seed which is capable of, or suitable for, regeneration into a plant; (s) Register means a national Register of Plant Varieties referred to in section 13; (t) Registrar means a Registrar of Plant Varieties appointed under sub-section (4) of section 12and includes the Registrar-General; (u) Registrar-General means the Registrar-General of Plant Varieties appointed undersub-section (3) of section12; (v) Registry means the Plant Variety Registry referred to in sub-section (1) of section 12; (w) regulations means regulations made by the Authority under this Act; (x) seed means a type of living embryo or propagule capable of regeneration and giving rise toa plant which is true to such type; 4***** (za) variety, means a plant grouping except micro-organism within a single botanical taxon ofthe lowest known rank, which can be-- (i) defined by the expression of the characteristics resulting from a given genotype of thatplant grouping; (ii) distinguished from any other plant grouping by expression of at least one of the saidcharacteristics; and (iii) considered as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated, which remainsunchanged after such propagation, and includes propagating material of such variety, extant variety, transgenic variety, farmers variety andessentially derived variety.

(1) The Central Government shall, by notification in the OfficialGazette, establish an authority to be known as the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers RightsAuthority for the purposes of this Act. (2) The Authority shall be a body corporate by the name aforesaid, having perpetual succession and acommon seal with power to acquire, hold and dispose of properties, both movable and immovable, and tocontract, and shall by the said name sue and be sued. (3) The head office of the Authority shall be at such place as the Central Government may, bynotification in the Official Gazette, specify and the Authority may, with the previous approval of theCentral Government, establish branch offices at other places in India. (4) The Authority shall consist of a Chairperson and fifteen members. (5) (a) The Chairperson to be appointed by the Central Government shall be a person of outstandingcaliber and eminence, with long practical experience to the satisfaction of that Government especially inthe field of plant varietal research or agricultural development. (b) The members of the Authority, to be appointed by the Central Government, shall be as follows,namely:-- (i) the Agriculture Commissioner, Government of India, Department of Agriculture andCooperation, New Delhi, ex officio; (ii) the Deputy Director General incharge of Crop Sciences, Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch, New Delhi, ex officio; (iii) the Joint Secretary incharge of Seeds, Government of India, Department of Agriculture andCooperation, New Delhi, ex officio; (iv) the Horticulture Commissioner, Government of India, Department of Agriculture andCooperation, New Delhi, ex officio; (v) the Director, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi, ex officio; (vi) one member not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India, to representthe Department of Bio-technology, Government of India, ex officio; (vii) one member not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India to representthe Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, ex officio; (viii) one member not below the rank of Joint Secretary to the Government of India to representthe Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs, Government of India, ex officio; (ix) one representative from a National or State level farmers organisation to be nominated bythe Central Government; (x) one representative from a tribal organisation to be nominated by the Central Government; (xi) one representative from the seed industry to be nominated by the Central Government; (xii) one representative from an agricultural University to be nominated by the CentralGovernment; (xiii) one representative from a National or State level womens organisation associated withagricultural activities to be nominated by the Central Government; and (xiv) two representatives of State Governments on rotation basis to be nominated by the CentralGovernment. (c) The Registrar-General shall be the ex officio member-secretary of the Authority. (6) The term of office of the Chairperson and the manner of filling the post shall be such as may beprescribed. (7) The Chairperson shall appoint a Standing Committee consisting of five members, one of whomshall be a member who is a representative from a farmers organisation, to advise the Authority on allissues including farmers rights. (8) The Chairperson shall be entitled to such salary and allowances and shall be subject to suchconditions of service in respect of leave, pension, provident fund and other matters as may be prescribed.The allowances for non-official members for attending the meetings of the Authority shall be as such asmay be prescribed. (9) The Chairperson may resign his office by giving notice thereof in writing to the CentralGovernment and on such resignation being accepted, he shall be deemed to have vacated his office. (10) On the resignation of the Chairperson or on the vacation of the office of Chairperson for anyreason, the Central Government may appoint one of the members to officiate as Chairperson till a regularChairperson is appointed in accordance with clause (a) of sub-section (5).

(1) The Authority shall meet at such time and place and shall observesuch rules of procedure in regard to the transaction of business at its meetings [including the quorum at itsmeetings and the transaction or business of its Standing Committee appointed under sub-section (7) ofsection 3] as may be prescribed. (2) The Chairperson of the Authority shall preside at the meetings of the Authority. (3) If, for any reason the Chairperson is unable to attend any meeting of the Authority, any member ofthe Authority chosen by the members present shall preside at the meeting. (4) All questions which come before any meeting of the Authority shall be decided by a majority ofthe votes of the members of the Authority present and voting and in the event of equality of votes, theChairperson of the Authority or in his absence, the person presiding shall have and exercise a second orcasting vote. (5) Every member who is in any way, whether directly, indirectly or personally, concerned orinterested in a matter to be decided at the meeting shall disclose the nature of his concern of interest andafter such disclosure, the member, concerned or interested, shall not attend that meeting. (6) No act or proceeding of the Authority shall be invalid merely by reason of-- (a) any vacancy in, or any defect in the constitution of, the Authority; or (b) any defect in the appointment of a person acting as the Chairperson or a member of theAuthority; or (c) any irregularity in the procedure of the Authority not affecting the merits of the case.

(1) The Authority may appoint such committees as may be necessaryfor the efficient discharge of its duties and performance of its functions under this Act. (2) The persons appointed as members of the committee under sub-section (1) shall be entitled toreceive such allowances or fees for attending the meetings of the committee as may be fixed by theCentral Government.