The Protection of Plant Variety and Farmers Right Act 2001
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act 2001 was enacted in India to protect the new plant varieties. Rules for the same were notified in 2003. The Act has now come into force. The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority has been set up and is responsible to administer the Act. The office of the Registrar has started receiving applications for registration of twelve notified crops viz. rice, lentil, maize, green gram, kidney bean, black gram, chickpea, pearl millet, pigeon pea, sorghum, field pea, bread wheat. Under the TRIPS agreement it is obligatory on part of a Member to provide protection to new plant variety either through patent or an effective sui generis system or a combination of these two systems. India was therefore under an obligation to introduce a system for protecting new plant variety. India opted for sui generis system and enacted The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act 2001.