Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 2018 (No. 12 of 2018).

This Act makes provision for the granting protect and protection of plant breeders' rights. The Act consists of 61 sections divided into 14 Chapters: Registrar and Register of Plant Breeders’ Rights (1); Plant Breeder’s Right (2); Application for Plant Breeder’s Right (3); Variety Denominations (4); Examination of Variety and Grant of Plant Breeder’s Right (5); Hearing of Objections (6); Obligations of Holder of Plant Breeder’s Right (7); Enforcement of Plant Breeders’ Rights (8); Licences (9); Termination of Plant Breeder’s Right (10); Plant Variety Journal (11); Appeals (12); Advisory Committee (13); General Provisions (14).
The Minister must appoint and designate the Registrar of Plant Breeders’ Rights. The Registrar is the authority to whom the protection of varieties is entrusted and must perform the functions entrusted to the Registrar under this Act. The Registrar must keep a register in which the prescribed particulars in respect of all applications for plant breeders’ rights in terms of this Act must be entered. In order to guarantee protection of a plant breeder’s right, a person must obtain a licence for a person intending to undertake— (a) the production or reproduction (multiplication) of the protected variety; (b) the conditioning for the purposes of propagation of the protected variety; (c) the sale or any other form of marketing of the protected variety; (d) the exporting of the protected variety; (e) the importing of the protected variety; or (f) the stocking of the protected variety for any of the purposes listed above. The protection requirement also applies to a variety— (i) that is essentially derived from the protected variety, where the protected variety is not itself an essentially derived variety; (ii) that is not clearly distinguishable from the protected variety in accordance with section 15(2)(b); or (iii) whose production requires the repeated use of the protected variety. A plant breeder’s right is valid for a (prescribed) period of 20, 25 or 30 years depending on the particular kind of plant. A plant breeder’s right may be granted in respect of any variety of all plant genera and species, if it is new, distinct, uniform and stable and has an acceptable variety denomination. The Act provides for provisional protection in respect of the variety for which an application for a plant breeder’s right has been filed and procedures in case of objections against such an application. The holder of a plant breeder’s right may enter into a written licence agreement authorising any person to undertake any activity listed above. Any person who is of the opinion that the holder of a plant breeder’s right unreasonably refuses to grant him or her a license by agreement or that such a holder is imposing unreasonable conditions for the issue of such a license, may apply to the Registrar to issue a compulsory license.
A plant breeder’s right in respect of a variety obtained in a legitimate manner does not extend to— (a) any act done in respect of that variety for private and non-commercial purposes; (b) any act done in respect of that variety for experimental purposes; (c) any act done in respect of that variety for the purposes of breeding other varieties; or (d) a farmer who uses the protected variety in accordance within criteria prescribed by the Minister regarding - (i) the category or categories of farmers who may use the protected variety; (ii) the category or categories of plants that may be used; (iii) the uses to which the protected variety may be put; and (iv) where applicable— (aa) conditions for payment of royalties; and (bb) labelling requirements. (b) When the Minister acts in terms of paragraph (a), the Minister must ensure that the legitimate interests of the breeder are safeguarded. A person who feels aggrieved by any decision or action taken by the Registrar may appeal in the prescribed manner to the Minister against such decision or action. The Minister may constitute a board known as the Appeal Board to investigate and consider any appeal. The Minister may refer an appeal to the Board. The Act provides for the establishment of an Plant Breeders’ Rights Advisory Committee.