Chapter VII Import and Export of and Foreign Cooperation Involving Seeds

Article 57 The quarantine system must be implemented for seed imports and exports to prevent dangerous plant diseases, pests, weeds and other pests from entering and exiting China. Detailed quarantine efforts shall be carried out in accordance with the quarantine laws and administrative regulations on plant imports and exports.

Article 58 For engagement in seed import and export business, the seed import and export license shall be obtained in accordance with relevant national provisions, in addition to the seed production and operation license.
The State Council shall stipulate the authority of examination and approval of the introduced overseas crop seeds or forest tree seeds, the examination and approval measures for import of crop seeds and forest tree seeds, and the administrative measures for introducing varieties of transgenic plants from other countries.

Article 59 The quality of imported seeds shall meet national or industry standards. If there are no national or industry standards for seed quality, the standards agreed in the contracts shall prevail.

Article 60 Seed imports to be used for producing seeds for other countries shall not be bonded by Paragraph 1 of Article 58 of the Law, provided that there is a seed-production contract, and the imported seeds can only be used for seed production and relevant products cannot be sold in China.
The test seeds of crops or forest trees imported from other countries shall be cultivated in isolation and the harvest cannot be sold as commercial seeds in China.

Article 61 It is illegal to import and export falseor low-quality seeds, or seeds that are not allowed to be imported and/or exported by national provisions.

Article 62 The State shall build the national security review mechanism for seed industry. The administration of examination and approval for foreign institutions or individuals investing, merging and acquiring Chinese seed enterprises or carrying out technical cooperation with Chinese scientific research institutions and seed enterprises to engage in research and development of varieties and seed production and operation shall be subject to relevant laws and administrative regulations.

Chapter VIII Supporting Measures

Article 63 The State shall increase the support for the development of seed industry and give support for variety selection and breeding, production, demonstration and popularization, protection of germplasmre sources, seed reservation and counties where seeds are produced in the large scale.
The State encourages and promotes the application of efficient and safe techniques of seed production and collection, and advanced and applicable machines for seed production and collection, and includes the advanced and applicable machines for seed production and collection into the scope of subsidies for agricultural implements purchase.
The State shall actively guide the investment of the social funds in the seed industry.

Article 64 The State shall strengthen the construction of infrastructure for the public welfare in the seed industry.
The cultivated land in the breeding base of preponderant seeds shall be classified into the protection zone of basic farmland, and be protected permanently. The breeding base of preponderant seeds shall be determined by the competent agriculture department under the State Council through consultation with the people's government of the province, autonomous region or municipality directly under the Central Government where the base is located.

Article 65 Seed enterprises working on selection, breeding and production of crop and forest tree varieties shall be supported according to relevant national provisions.

Article 66 The State encourages and guides financial institutions to provide credit support for seed production and operation, collection and storage.

Article 67 The State supports insurance organizations to conduct the insurance services for seed production. The people's governments at or above the provincial level may take measures like insurance premium subsidies to support and develop the production insurance inseed industry.

Article 68 The State encourages scientific research institutions, colleges and universities to carry out the communication of scientific and technical personnel in the field of breeding with seed enterprises and to support scientific and technical personnel of their own towork on the breeding achievement transformation in seed enterprises, and encourages scientific and technical personnel in the field of breeding to innovate and start a business.

Article 69 The competent agriculture and forestry departments under the State Council and the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government where the seeds are cultivated shall strengthen the management and coordination of the seed cultivation, and the traffic and transportation departments shall guarantee seed transportation.

Chapter IX Legal Liabilities

Article 70 Where the competent agriculture or forestry department fails to make the administrative licensing decision according to the law, refuses to investigate and punish illegal behaviors discovered by itself or reported by others, or does not perform duties under the Law, relevant departments of the people's government at the same level or of the superior people's government shall order them to make corrections, and impose sanctions on accountable persons in charge and other persons directly liable inaccordance with the law.
The staff of the competent agriculture and forestry departments shall be given sanctions in accordance with the law if they violate Article 56 of the Law and engage in the seed production and operation activities.

Article 71 The members and staff of the varieties examination and approval committee shall be given sanctions in accordance withthe law if they, in violation of Article 16 of the Law, fail to perform their duties according to the law, practice fraud and play favoritism and commit irregularities; and they shall not work on variety examination and approval within five years as of the date on which the decision on sanctions is made.

Article 72 Where the variety test, trial and seed quality inspection organizations fake test, trial and inspection data or issue false certificates, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order them to make corrections, impose a fine not less than CNY50,000 but not more than CNY100,000 on the organizations and a fine not less than CNY10,000 but not more thanCNY50,000 on directly responsible persons in charge and other persons directly liable and confiscate the illegal gains if any; where losses of users of seeds and other seed producers and operators are caused by these organizations, they shall undertake the joint liability with the seed producers and operators; and the relevant competent department of the people's government at or above the provincial level shall cancel the qualification for seed quality inspection when the circumstances are serious.

Article 73 Where any entity or individual violates Article 28 of the Law and commits any behaviors infringing upon the right of new plant variety, the parties concerned may settle such violation through negotiation; if they refuse to negotiate or the negotiation fails, the holder of the right of new plant variety or the interested parties may request the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level to handle with the matter, or sue to the people's court directly.
The competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level may conduct the conciliation on compensation for damages caused by the infringement of the right of new plant variety on the principle of voluntariness of the parties concerned. The parties concerned shall perform the agreement made during the conciliation; if the parties concerned refuse to perform the agreement or the conciliation fails to reach anagreement, the holder of the right of new plant variety or the interested parties may sue to the people's court according to the law.
The compensation amount for the infringement of the right of new plant variety shall be determined according to the actual losses of the right holder caused by the infringement; if the actual losses are hard to be determined, the compensation amount may be determined according to the benefits gained by theinfringer via the infringement. If it's hard to determine the losses of theright holder or benefits gained by the infringer, the compensation amount maybe reasonably determined according to the relevant multiple of the royalty of the right of new plant variety. The compensation amount shall include the reasonable expenditure paid by the right holder for stopping the infringement act. In case of serious infringement of the right of new plant variety, the compensation amount may be determined as per not less than one time but notmore than three times of the amount determined according to the above methods.
Where it is difficult to determine the losses of the right holder, benefits gained by the infringer and the royalty of the right of new plant variety, the people's court may determine the compensation amount not more than CNY3 million based on the type of the right of new plant variety, nature and circumstance of the infringement act, and other factors.
In order to protect the public interests, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the infringer to stop the infringement act and confiscate the illegal gains and seeds while handling the case in relation to infringement of the right of new plant variety; if the value of seed goods is less than CNY50,000, the infringer shall be imposed a fine not less than CNY10,000 but not more than CNY250,000;if the value of seed goods is more than CNY50,000, the infringer shall be imposed a fine not less than five times but not more than ten times of the value.
Where any entity or individual counterfeits the authorized varieties, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the entity or individual to stop the counterfeit behavior, and confiscate the illegal gains and seeds; if the value of seed goods is less than CNY50,000, the entity or individual shall be imposed a fine not less than CNY10,000 but not more than CNY250,000; if the value of seed goods is more than CNY50,000, the entity or individual shall be imposed a fine not less than five times but not more than ten times of the value.

Article 74 Where the parties concerned have disputes on the right of application for the new plant variety and the ownership of the right of new plant variety, they may file a lawsuit with the people's court.

Article 75 Where entities or individuals produce and operate false seeds, which violates Article 49 hereof, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order them to stop the production and operation, confiscate the illegal gains and seeds and revoke the seed production and operation license; if the value of seed goods illegally produced and operated is less than CNY10,000, the violators shall be fined not less than CNY10,000 but not more than CNY100,000; if the said value is more than CNY10,000, the violators shall be imposed a fine not less than ten times but not more than 20 times of the value.
The legal representative or any directly responsible person in charge of a seed enterprise or any other entity that is sentenced to the fixed-term imprisonmentor above due to the crime of producing and operating false seeds shall not serve as the legal representative or senior officer of any seed enterprise within five years as of the date on which the execution of the punishment is completed.

Article 76 Where any entity or individual producesand operates low-quality seeds, which violates Article 49 hereof, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the violator to stop the production and operation, and confiscate the illegal gains and seeds; if the value of seed goods illegally produced and operated is less than CNY10,000, the violator shall be fined not less than CNY5,000 but not more than CNY50,000; if the value of seed goods is more than CNY10,000, the violator shall be imposed a fine not less than five times but not more than ten times of the value; and in serious case, the seed production and operation license shall be revoked.
Where the legal representative or any directly responsible person in charge of a seed enterprise or any other entity is sentenced to the fixed-term imprisonment or above due to the crime of producing and operating low-quality seeds, he shall not hold the post of legal representative or senior officer ofany seed enterprise within five years as of the date on which the execution of the punishment is completed.

Article 77 In case of any of the following acts violating Article 32 and Article 33 of the Law, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the violator to make corrections, and confiscate the illegal gainsand seeds; if the value of seed goods under illegal production and operation is less than CNY10,000, the violator shall be fined not less than CNY3,000 but not more than CNY30,000; if the above value is more than CNY10,000, the violator shall be imposed a fine not less than three times but not more than five times of the value; and the seed production and operation license may be revoked:
1. conduct the seed production and operation without obtaining the seed production and operation license;
2. obtain the seed production and operation license through improper means such as cheat and bribe;
3. fail to conduct the seed production and operation according to the stipulations of the seed production and operation license; or
4. fake, alter, buy and sell, rent and lease the seed production and operation license.
Where the seed production and operation license of an entity is revoked, the legal representative or any directly responsible person in charge of the entity shall not assume the office of legal representative or senior officer of any seed enterprise within five years as of the date on which the decision on punishment is made.

Article 78 In the event of any of the following acts violating Article 21, Article 22 and Article 23 of the Law, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the violator to stop the illegal acts, confiscate the illegal gains and seeds and impose a fine not less than CNY20,000 but not more than CNY200,000:
1. generalize or sell crop varieties that should have been examined and approved;
2. generalize or sell forest tree varieties which should have been examined and approved as the improved varieties;
3. generalize or sell crop varieties or improved forest tree varieties whose popularization or sales should have been stopped;
4. generalize the crop varieties which should have been registered, or sell the crop varieties in the name of registered varieties; or
5. generalize the crop varieties which have been deregistered, or sell the crop varieties in the name of registered varieties.
Where, in violation of Article 23 and Article 42 of the Law, any advertisement on crop varieties which should have been examined and approved or registered is released, or the contents of main characters of relevant varieties described in the advertisement are not consistent with that in the announcement on examination and approval and registration, relevant legal liabilities shall be investigated and affixed according to the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China.

Article 79 In case of any of the following acts violating Article 58, Article 60 and Article 61 of the Law, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the violator to make corrections, and confiscate the illegal gains and seeds; if the value of seed goods under illegal production and operation is less than CNY10,000, the violator shall be imposed a fine not less than CNY3,000 but not more than CNY30,000; if the above value is more than CNY10,000, the violator shall be imposed a fine not less than three times but not more than five times of the value; in serious case, the seed production and operation license may be revoked:
1. import and export seeds without permission;
2. sell seeds produced for foreign counties in China;
3. sell the products produced in the introduction test of crop or forest tree seeds introduced from foreign countries as the commercial seeds in China; or
4. import and export false or low-quality seeds, or seeds that are not allowed to be imported and/or exported by national provisions.

Article 80 In the event of any of the followingacts violating Article 36, Article 38, Article 40 and Article 41 hereof, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the violator to make corrections and impose the fine not less than CNY2,000 but not more than CNY20,000:
1. seeds to be sold have no packages needed;
2. seeds to be sold have no instructions or contents of labels fail to conform to the provisions;
3. alter labels;
4. fail to establish and conserve the seed production and operation file asstipulated; or
5. seed producers and operators who establish branches in other places,specialize in packaged seeds which need not be divided and packed again, or produce and sell seeds as entrusted, fail to report the matter to relevant authorities for record as stipulated.

Article 81 Where any entity or individual violates Article 8 hereof and takes or damages germplasm resources, or collects or cutsnatural germplasm resources under the national key protection without permission, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order the violator to stop the illegal behaviors, confiscate germplasm resources and illegal gains, and impose the fine not less than CNY5,000 but not more than CNY50,000; in case of losses caused thereby, the violator shall undertake the liability of compensation according to the law.

Article 82 Where entities or individuals provide germplasm resources to foreign countries or introduce germplasm resources from foreign countries, or carry out cooperation with foreign institutions or individuals in terms of studying and using germplasm resources, which violates Article 11 of the Law, the competent agriculture and forestry departments underthe State Council or of the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall confiscate germplasm resources and illegal gains and impose a fine not less than CNY20,000 but not more than CNY200,000.
Where germplasm resources are taken or transported out of China without the approval documents issued by the competent agriculture and forestry departments, the customs shall detain the germplasm resources and transfer them to the competent agriculture and forestry departments of the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government for treatment.

Article 83 Where entities or individuals snatch immature seeds, damage the parent trees or collect seeds from low-qualit yparent trees or forests, which violate Article 35 of the Law, the competent forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order them to stop such collection behaviors, confiscate the seeds collected, and impose the fine not less than two times but not more than five times of the value of the seeds collected.

Article 84 Where any entity or individual, inviolation of Article 39 hereof, purchases the seeds of rare trees or forest tree seeds subject to restricted purchases, the competent forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall confiscate the seeds purchased, and impose the fine not less than two times but not more than five times of the value of the seeds purchased.

Article 85 Where a seed enterprise commits any fraud behaviors which violate Article 17 of the Law, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the provincial level shall impose the fine not less than CNY1 million but not more than CNY5 million; the seed enterprise shall not apply for the variety examination and approval according to Article 17 hereof; where seed users and other seed producers and operators suffer from any losses caused by such fraud behaviors, the seed enterprise shall undertake the liability of compensation according to the law.

Article 86 Where entities or individuals fail to use the improved forest tree varieties according to the plans formulated by the competent forestry departments, which violates Article 45 of the Law, the competent forestry departments of the people's governments at the same level shall order them to make corrections within a specified time limit, and impose the fine not less than CNY3,000 but not more than CNY30,000 if they fail to do so.

Article 87 Where entities or individuals, inviolation of Article 54 of the Law, conduct the inoculation experiment on quarantine pests in the seed production base, the competent agriculture or forestry department of the people's government at or above the county level shall order them to stop the experiment, and impose the fine not less than CNY5,000 but not more than CNY50,000.

Article 88 Where any entity or individual refuses to accept or obstruct the supervision and inspection conducted by the competent agriculture or forestry department according to the law, which violates Article50 of the Law, the violator shall be imposed the fine not more than CNY2,000 but not less than CNY50,000, and may be ordered to stop production and business operation for internal rectification; if the above violation goes against the public security administration, the public security organization may impose corresponding punishments on the violator according to the law.

Article 89 Any person who violates Article 13 of the Law and trades in the breeding products without permission, resulting in economic losses of the entity which he works for, shall undertake the liability of compensation according to the law.

Article 90 Entities or individuals that, inviolation of Article 44 of the Law, force seed users to buy or use the seeds against their will, shall undertake the liability of compensation for losses of users caused thereby.

Article 91 If any violation of the Law constitutesa crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated and affixed according tothe law.

Chapter X Supplementary Provisions

Article 92 The meanings of the following terms in the Law are as follows:
1. "Germplasm resources" refer to the basic materials selected to cultivate new varieties, including planting seeds of various flora, propagative materials of wild plant seeds and gene materials of various flora artificially created by using the above propagative materials;
2. "Variety" refers to a plant colony whose shape and biological characteristics are uniform, and whose genetic characteristics are relatively stable that has been selected, cultivated, found and improved by human;
3. "Main crops" refer to rice, wheat, maize, cotton and soybean;
4. The main forest trees shall be determined and published by the competent forestry department under the State Council; other less than eight kinds of main forest trees excluding those determined by the competent forestry department under the State Council may be determined by the competent forestry departments of the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government;
5. "Improved forest tree variety" refers to those main forest tree seeds that are examined and approved, and whose output, adaptability and resistance are significantly better than the propagative materials and planting materials of current main planting materials within a certain region;
6. "Novelty" refers to the case that, prior to the date of applying for the right of new plant variety for a variety, the seeds of the variety have been sold and popularized by the applicant or others entrusted by the applicant for not more than one year in China, while the woody or vine plants not more than six years and the rest plants not more than four years outside of China.
Plant genera or varieties listed in the national list of protected plant varieties after the Law takes effect shall possess the novelty if the application for the rights of new plant varieties for them is filed within one year as of the date of promulgation of the list or the seeds of these plant varieties have been sold or popularized in China for not more than four years.
Except for the sales and popularization behaviors resulting in the loss of the novelty, the varieties under the following circumstances shall be deemed as losing the novelty:
(1) the varieties have been determined by the competent agriculture and forestry departments of the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government on the basis of the sowing area and have been spread as a fact; and
(2) crops varieties have been examined and approved or registered for more than two years but the rights of new plant varieties have not been applied;
7. "Specificity" refers to the case that one plant variety has one or more characters obviously different from that of the known varieties;
8. "Consistency" refers to the case that, except for the predictable natural variations of characters of one plant variety, relevant features or characters are consistent among individual plants within the colony;
9. "Stability" refers to the case that main characters of one plant variety remain unchanged after the repeated reproduction or at the end of the specific reproductive cycle;
10. "Known varieties" refer to the plant varieties whose applications have been accepted or which have passed the variety examination and approval,variety registration, and protection of new variety, or which have been sold orpopularized.
11."Label" refers to the specific patterns and written descriptions printed, pasted, fixed on or attached to the surface of seeds or packages of seeds.

Article 93 The Law shall apply mutatis mutandis to the management of germplasm resources, selection and cultivation, production and operation, administration and other activities related to grass seeds, tobacco seeds, seeds of traditional Chinese medicinal materials and edible mushroom seeds.

Article 94 The Law shall take effect as of January 1, 2016.

Source: LexisNexis