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Brief
description of the notified legal text
In conformity
with Article 63.2 of the TRIPS Agreement, please find enclosed the Dutch
version and an English translation of the Netherlands Law on Plant Breeders
Rights, the Seed and Planting Material Act (in Dutch: Zaaizaad- en
Plantgoedwet).
This
new law provides a modern legal framework for the procedures for the
admission of plant varieties and forest stands, the marketing of the
propagating material derived from them and the granting of plant variety
rights. Previously, these procedures were handled by four different bodies.
In the 2005 ZPW, they are brought together under one body: the Board for
Plant Varieties. Some highlights:
Farmers'
privilege curtailed
The
"farmers' privilege" - the right of farmers to reproduce protected
varieties of agricultural crops for their own use - is now allowed only upon
notification by the grower to the breeders' rights holder by 15 May.
This notification requirement makes enforcement of this privilege much
easier. A grower who failed to notify the holder of plant breeders' rights
before 15 May, but who has sown or planted self-harvested material of
varieties protected by plant breeders' rights, is now directly punishable.
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Plant variety rights 30
years
The term of protection of
plant breeders' rights is generally 25 years, with the possibility of
assigning a 30-year term of protection to certain crops. When the new ZPW was
being drafted, Plantum NL argued for more crops to be granted this extra term
of protection. In the old ZPW, a protection period of 30 years already
applied to potato, acacia, apple, ash, elm, cherry, pear, poplar, plum and
willow. Now this has also been granted to strawberry, freesia, lily, tulip,
maple, elm, dogwood, currant, rowan, linden and magnolia.
For all varieties of these
crops for which Dutch plant breeders' rights are still in force on 1 February 2006, and for all varieties for which this is applied for after
that time, the duration of plant breeders' rights is immediately 30 years.
The reason why an additional term of protection has been granted to these
crops lies in the fact that it takes longer for these crops to recoup
investments.
Obligation to inform the NAK
A very useful tool for plant
breeders' rights holders in the context of enforcing their plant breeders'
rights is the obligation to provide information included in the ZPW 2005 for
the inspection services that fall under the ZPW and the Agricultural Quality
Act. This means that the NAK, the Naktuinbouw, but also the Flower Bulb
Inspection Service (BKD) are obliged to provide, at the request of the holder
of a plant variety right valid in the Netherlands (i.e. this can also be a
European plant variety right), an overview of persons or companies that have
produced propagation material of his variety. Furthermore, insight must be
given into the amount of propagation material produced of that variety. For
providing this information, the certification authority concerned may charge
a fee to compensate for administrative costs.
Source: Plantum 31 januari
2006.
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