(Promulgated by Decree No. 213 of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on March 20, 1997; amendedfor the first time in accordance with Decree No. 635Decision of the State Council on Amending the Regulation of the People's Republic of China on Protection of New Varieties of Plantsof the State Council of the People's Republic of China on January 31, 2013; and amendedfor the second time in accordance with Decree No. 653Decision of the State Council on Amending Some Administrative Regulationsof the State Council of the People's Republic of Chinaon July 29, 2014)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1.These Regulations are formulated to protect the rights in new varieties of plants, to encourage the breeding and use of new varieties of plants, and to promote the development of agriculture and forestry.

Article 2.The new plant variety referred to in these Regulations means an artificially cultivated plant variety, or a developed one based on a discovered wild plant, which is new, distinct, uniform and stable, and whose denomination is adequately designated.

Article 3.The administrative departments of agriculture and forestry under the State Council (both hereinafter referred to as the examining and approving authorities) are jointly responsible, according to the division of their job responsibilities, for the receipt and examination of applications for rights in new varieties of plants (hereinafter referred to as variety rights) in respect of those new varieties of plants that conform to the provisions of these Regulations.

Article 4.The people's governments at county level or above or other relevant departments shall reward the entity which or the person who has accomplished the breeding of a new plant variety that has a bearing on the national or the public interest, and is of great value for use.

Article 5.The production, sale and promotionof a new plant variety in respect of which variety rights have been granted (hereinafter referred to as the protected variety) is subject to review and approval under the provisions of relevant national laws and regulations on seeds.

Chapter II Content and Ownership of Variety Rights

Article 6.The entity which or the person who has accomplished the breeding has an exclusive right in itsprotected variety. Except otherwise provided in these Regulations, no other entity or person shall, without the authorization of the holder of the variety rights (hereinafter referred to as the variety right holder), produce or sell for commercial purposes the propagating material of the said protected variety, or use for commercial purposes the propagating material of the protected variety in a repeated manner in the production of the propagating material of another variety.

Article 7.In the case of job-related breeding accomplished by any person in undertaking tasks for the entity to which he belongs, or primarily by using the material resources of that entity, the right to file an application in respect of the new plant variety shall belong to the entity in question; for breeding that is not job-related, the right to file an application in respect of the new plant varietyshall belong to the person accomplishing the breeding. Upon approval of the application, the variety rights shall belong to the applicant.

For commissioned breeding or jointly-conducted breeding, the ownership of the variety rights shall be agreed upon by the parties in a contract; in the absence of a contractual agreement thereon, the variety rights shall belong to the entity or person commissioned to conduct or jointly conducting the breeding.

Article 8.One new plant variety shall be granted only one set of variety rights. If two or more applicants apply separately for variety rights in respect of the same new plant variety, the variety rights shall be granted to the person who applies first; in the case of a simultaneous application, the variety rights shall be granted to the person who has first accomplished the breeding of the new plant variety concerned.

Article 9.The right to file an applicationin respect of a new plant variety and the variety rights may be assigned in accordance with the law.

If a Chinese entity or person is to assign to a foreigner the fight to file an application or the variety rights in respect of a new plant variety bred in China, such assignment shall be approved by the examining and approving authorities.

If a State-owned entity is to assign the right to file an application or the variety rights within China, the State-owned entity shall submit such assignmentto the competent administrative departments concerned in accordance with the relevant regulations of China for approval.

The parties involved in the assignment of the right to file an application or the variety rights shall conclude a written contract, and shall register the assignment before the examining and approving authorities, which in turn shall announcethe assignment.

Article 10.Without prejudice to other rights of the variety right holder under these Regulations, the exploitation of the protected variety shall not require authorization from, or payment of royalties to, the variety right holder for the following circumstances:

(1) exploitation of the protected variety for breeding and other scientific research activities;

(2) the use for propagating purposes by farmers, on their own holdings, of the propagating material of the protected variety harvested on their own holdings.

Article 11.The examining and approving authorities may, in the national or the public interest, decide to grant a compulsory license to exploit new plant varieties, which should be subsequently registered and announced.

The entity which or the person who is granted a compulsory license for exploitation shall pay the variety right holder a reasonable exploitation fee, the amount of which shall be fixed by consultation between the two parties. Where the parties fail to reach an agreement, the examining and approving authorities shall adjudicate.

Where the variety right holderis not satisfied with the decision to grant a compulsory license or is not satisfied with the adjudication regarding the royaltiesfor the compulsory license, he or it may, within three months from the date of receiving the notification, file a suit with the People's Court.

Article 12.Regardless of whether or not the term of the protection of the protected variety has expired, the denomination of the protected variety as used in its registration must be used for sales thereof.

Chapter III Conditions for the Grant of Variety Rights

Article 13.The new plant variety in respect of which variety rights have been applied for shall be part of the botanical genera and species included in the national list of protected plant varieties. This list of protected plant varieties shall be determined and announcedby the examining and approving authorities.

Article 14.Any new plant variety in respect of which variety rights are granted shall possess novelty. Novelty means that the propagating material of the new plant variety in respect of which variety rights are applied for has not been sold prior to the filing date, or has not been for sale, with the authorization of the breeder, for more than one year within the territory of China; the propagating materials of vines, forest trees, fruit trees and ornamental plants must have not been for sale for more than six years, or the propagating materials of other plant varieties for more than four years, outside the territory of China.

Article 15.Any new plant variety in respect of which variety rights are granted shall have distinctness. Distinctness means that the new plant variety in respect of which variety rights are applied for must be noticeably distinguishable from any other plant variety known prior to the filing of the application.

Article 16.Any new plant variety in respect of which variety rights are granted shall have uniformity. Uniformity means that the new plant variety in respect of which variety rights are applied for is uniform, except for the variation that may be expected, in its relevant features or characteristics after propagation.

Article 17.Any new plant variety in respect of which variety rights are granted shall have stability. Stability means that the new plant variety in respect of which variety rights are applied for keeps its relevant features or characteristics unchanged after repeated propagation or at the end of particular cycle of propagation.

Article 18.Any new plant variety in respect of which variety rights are granted shall have an adequate denomination, which shall be distinguishable from that for any other known plant variety of the same or similar botanical genera or species. The denomination, after its registration, shall be the generic designation of the new plant variety in question.

The following denominations shall not be used for designating a variety:

(1) thosedenominationsconsisting of only numbers;

(2) thosedenominationsviolating social morals;

(3) thosedenominationsthat are liable to mislead as to the features or characteristics of the new plant variety, or the identity or the breeder.

Chapter IV Applications for Variety Rights and Receipt Thereof

Article 19.Where Chinese entities and persons apply for variety rights, they may file an application with the examining and approving authorities directly or through a representative agency commissioned for the purpose.

Where the new plant variety in respect of which Chinese entities and persons apply for variety rights involves national security or major interests and therefore needs to be kept confidential, it shall be handled in accordance with the relevant regulations of China.

Article 20.If a foreigner, a foreign enterprise or any other foreign organization files an application for variety rights in China, the application shall be handled in accordance with any agreement concluded between the country to which the applicant belongs and the People's Republic of China, or any international convention to which both countries have acceded, or be handled in accordance with these Regulations onthe basis of the principal of reciprocity.

Article 21.For the purposes of applying for variety rights, claims and a descriptionconforming to the prescribed forms as well as a photograph of the variety shall be submitted to the examining and approving authorities.

The application documents shall be written in Chinese.

Article 22.The date on which the examining and approving authorities receive the variety right application documents shall be the filing date. Where the application documents are filed by mail, the postmark date shall be the filing date.

Article 23.Where, within 12 months from the date on which an applicant has first filed an application for variety rights in a foreign country, the applicant files an application for variety rights in China in respect of the same new plant variety, he or it may, in accordance with any agreement concluded between the said foreign country and the People's Republic of China or any international treaty to which both countries have acceded, or on the basis of the principle of mutual recognition of the right of priority, enjoy a priorityright.

Any applicant who claims thepriority right shall make a written statement when the application is filed, and shall submit, within three months, a copy of the variety right application documents that were first filed, as confirmed by the original receiving authority; if the applicant fails to make the written statement or fails to submit a copy of the application documents under the provisions of these Regulations, the claim to the priority rightshall be deemed not to have been made.

Article 24.Where the variety right application conforms to Article 21 of the Regulations, the examining and approving authorities shall accept it, assign the filing date and a filing number and serve notice on the applicant within one month from the receipt of the application to pay an application fee.

Where the variety right application does notconform to, or after amendment still does not conform to Article 21 of the Regulations, the examining and approving authorities shall not accept it and shall notify the applicant accordingly.

Article 25.An applicant may amend or withdraw his or its variety right application at any time before the variety rights are granted.

Article 26.Any application filed by a Chinese entity or person with a foreign country in respect of a new plant variety that has been bred in China shall be registered before the administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the provincial people's government, depending on the division of functions between them.

Chapter V Examination and Approval of Variety Rights

Article 27.Upon payment of the application fee, the examining and approving authorities shall carry out a preliminary examination on the variety right application of the following contents:

(1) whether it is part of the botanical genera or species included in the list of protected plant varieties;

(2) whether it conforms to the provision of Article 20 of the Regulations;

(3) whether it conforms to the provisionsonnovelty;

(4) whether the denomination of the new plant variety is adequate.

Article 28.The examining and approving authorities shall complete the preliminary examination within six months from the date of acceptance ofthe variety right application. Where the variety right application is found acceptable on preliminary examination, the examining and approving authorities shall have it announced and serve notice on the applicant to pay the examination fee within three months.

Where the variety right application is found unacceptable on preliminary examination, the examining and approving authorities shall notify the applicant to state his observations or make amendments within three months; where an applicant fails to respond within the time limit or the application is still unacceptable after amendment, the application shall be rejected.

Article 29.After the applicant has paid the prescribed examination fee, the examining and approving authorities shall carry out a substantive examination of the distinctiveness, uniformity and stability of the variety in respect of which variety rights are applied for.

Where the applicant has not paid the prescribed examination fee, the variety right application shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

Article 30.The xamining and approving authorities shall conduct the substantive examination on the basis of application documents and other relevant written materials. Where the examining and approving authorities deem it necessary, they may entrust a designated testing institution with undertaking tests or with inspecting the results of planting or other trials that have already been carried out.

For the purpose of examination, the applicant shall at the request of the examining and approving authorities, furnish necessary materialsand the propagating materials of the new plant variety in question.

Article 31.Where the variety right application is found to be in conformity with the provisions of these Regulations on substantive examination, the examining and approving authorities shall make a decision to grant the variety rights, issue the new variety right title, and have it registered and announced.

Where the variety right application is found not to be in conformity with the provisions of these Regulations on substantive examination, the examining and approving authorities shall rejectthe application and notify the applicant accordingly.

Article 32.The examining and approving authorities shall set up a Reexamination Board for New Varieties of Plants.

Where theapplicant is not satisfied with the decision of the examining and approving authorities on rejection of a variety right application, he or it may, within three months from the date of receipt the notification, request the Reexamination Board for New Varieties of Plants for a reexamination. The Reexamination Board for New Variety Plants shall, within six months from the date of receiptthe request for reexamination, make a decision and notify the applicant accordingly.

Where an applicant is not satisfied with the reexamination decision of the Reexamination Board for New Varieties of Plants, that applicant may, within 15 days from the date of receiptthe notification, file a suit with the People's Court.

Article 33.After the variety rights have been granted, for the period beginning on the date on which an acceptable application is announced on preliminary examination and ending on the date of grant of variety rights, the variety right holder is entitled to claim compensation from an entity which, and an person who, has produced or sold the propagating material of the protected variety in question for commercial purposes without his authorization.

Chapter VI Term, Termination and Invalidity

Article 34.The term of protection of variety rights, counted from the date of grant thereof, shall be 20 years for vines, forest trees, fruit trees and ornamental plants and 15 years for other plants.

Article 35.The variety right holder shall pay annual fees from the year in which the variety rights are granted, and shall furnish propagating materials of the protected variety for the purposes of testing as required by the examining and approving authorities.

Article 36.Variety rights shall be terminated prior to the expiration of the term thereof in any of the following circumstances:

(1) where the variety right holder makes a written statement renouncing his variety rights;

(2) where the variety right holder has not paid the annual fee as prescribed;

(3) where the variety right holder has not furnished, in the manner required by the examining and approving authorities, such propagating materials of the protected variety necessary for testing;

(4) where, upon testing, the protected variety no longer conforms to the features and characteristics that existed when the variety rights were granted.

The termination of the variety rights shall be registered and announced by the examining and approving authorities.

Article 37.From the date on which the examining and approving authorities announce the grant of variety rights, the Reexamination Board for New Varieties of Plants may, ex officio or on the basis of a written request made by any entity or person, declare variety rights invalidwhere the variety rights are not in conformity with the provisions of Articles 14, 15, 16 and 17 of these Regulations, or change the denomination of any variety that is not in conformity with the provisions of Article 18 of these Regulations. The decision to declare variety rights invalid and the decision to change the denomination shall be registered and announced by the examining and approving authorities, and shall be notified to the parties concerned.

Where any party is not satisfied with the decision of the Reexamination Board for New Varieties of Plants, he or it may, within three months from the date of receipt of such notification, file a suit with the People's Court.

Article 38.The variety rights that have been declared invalid shall be deemed non-existent from the outset.

The decision to declare variety rights invalid shall have no retroactive effect on any judgment or ruling made and enforced by the People's Court concerning the infringement of a new plant variety, or on any decision made and enforced by the administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the People's Governments at provincial level or above concerning the infringement of a new plant variety, or on any performed license contract for exploitation of a new plant variety or any performed contract of assignment of the rights in a new plant variety. However, any damage caused to any other person due to bad faith on the part of the variety right holder shall be equitably compensated.

If no repayment of the fees for the exploitation of the new plant variety or of the price for the assignment of the variety rights, pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, is made by the variety right holder or the assignor of the variety rights to the licensee or the assignee, which is obviously contrary to the principle of the equity, the variety right holder or the assignor of the variety rights shall repay the whole or part of the fees for the exploitation of the variety or of the price for assignment of the variety rights to the licensee or the assignee.

Chapter VII Penalty Provisions

Article 39.Where the propagating material of the protected variety is produced or sold for commercial purposes without the authorization of the variety right holder, the variety right holder or the party having an interest therein may request the administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the People's Governments at provincial level or above to handle it with their respective competence, or directly file a suit with the People's Court.

The administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the People's Governments at provincial level or above may, according to their respective competence and based on the principle of free will of the parties, mediate the compensation of damages caused by the infringement. Where an accord has been reached through mediation, it should be performed by the parties concerned; where no accord has been reached through mediation, the variety right holder or the party having an interest therein may file a suit with the People's Court according to civil action procedures.

In handling cases of infringement of variety rights in accordance with their respective competence, the administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the People's Governments at provincial level or above may, for the purposes of safeguarding the public interest of the society, order the infringer to stop the infringing act, confiscate the illegal gains and propagating material of the plant variety; where the value of plant variety is more than RMB 50,000 Yuan, a fine of more than one time but less than five times the value of plant variety may be imposed; where there is no value of plant variety or the value of plant variety is less than RMB 50,000 Yuan, a fine of less than RMB 250,000 Yuan may be imposed according to the seriousness of circumstances.

Article 40.Where a new plant variety is counterfeited, the administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the People's Governments at the county level or above shall, in accordance with their respective competence, order the party concerned to stop the counterfeiting act, and confiscate the illegal gains and the propagating material of the plant variety; where the value of plant variety is more than RMB 50,000 Yuan, a fine of more than one time but less than five times the value of plant variety shall be imposed; where there is no value of plant variety or the value of plant variety is less than RMB 50,000 Yuan, a fine of less than RMB 250,000 Yuan shall be imposed according to the seriousness of circumstances; where the circumstances are so serious as to constitute a crime, criminal responsibility shall be investigated according to law.

Article 41.The administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the People's Governments at provincial level or above in handling cases concerning infringement of variety rights in accordance with their respective competence, and the administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the People's Governments at county level or above in handling cases concerning counterfeiting protected variety in accordance with their respective competence, may, as necessary, seal up or detain the propagating material of the plant variety relevant to the cases, have access to, make copies of and seal up contracts, account books and other relevant documents related to the cases.

Article 42.Where the protected variety is sold without using the denomination as used in its registration, the administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the People's Governments at county level or above shall, in accordance with their respective competence, order a correction within a specified time limit, and may impose a fine not exceeding RMB 1,000 Yuan.

Article 43.Where disputes arise as to the right to apply for a new plant variety and the ownership of the variety rights, the parties concerned may file a suit with the People's Court.

Article 44.Where any staff member of the administrative departments of agriculture and forestry of the People's Governments at county level or above and of relevant departments abuses his power, neglects his duty, engages in any malpractice for private gain, or extorts or receives bribes, thecriminal responsibility shall be investigated in accordance with the law if a crime is constituted; or administrative sanctions shall be imposed in accordance with the law if a crime is not constituted.

Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions

Article 45.The examining and approving authorities may provide for flexible provisions on novelty requirement for the genera or species first included in the list of protected plant varieties before the entry into force of these Regulations and that for the genera or species included in the list of protected plant varieties after the entry into force of the Regulations.

Article 46.These Regulations shall enter into force as from October 1, 1997.