Brief on Seed Act

7/30/2019 Brief on Seed Act

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Salient Features of the Seed Amendment Bill

Process of Seed Certification

Variety Development (Crossing, Chemical Mutation, Radiation mutation, Selection,

Biotechnology)

Apply for approval to Expert Sub Committee and then Provincial Seed Council (for provincialuse) and to Federal Seed Council (for all Pakistan use)

Head-to-Row (at Research Institute by Breeder)

Breeders Nucleus Seed (BNS) (at Research Institute by Breeder)

Pre Basic Seed (at Research Institute by Farm Manager)

Basic Seed (at Seed Farms by Private Sector/ Extension Deptt/ Farmer)

Certified Class [used for general cultivation] (at Seed Farms by Private Sector/ ExtensionDeptt/ Farmer)

Approved Class [used for general cultivation by farmers]

Features

a) renaming the department to meet legal proceedings in the court, and addition of

more compatible definitions of various terms;

b) registration of private sector companies, seed dealers and seed processing unitsto settle the arising legal disputes;

c) access to pre-basic seed to the private sector, provision for which did not existbefore;

d) training of private seed sector personnel, especially to work under WTO regime;

e) enhancement of penalties/fines for effective seed enforcement;

f) promotion of research in seed science and technology to strengthen seedindustry and the research based regulatory mechanism;

g) restriction on sale of unapproved/banned varieties and effective control of various cheating practices through the provision of misbranding clause;

h) establishment of accredited seed testing laboratories in public as well as inprivate sector;

i) registration of plant variety and horticulture nurseries;

j) establishment of Federal Seed Committee and Variety Evaluation Committee.


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Status:

Sindh Assembly authorization: November 11, 2006

Balochistan Assembly authorization: January 04, 2005

Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa Assembly authorization: November 08, 2005

Punjab Assembly authorization: June 24, 2006

Federal Cabinet approved it in August 01, 2007 and authorized to place it beforethe National Assembly.

Assemblies dissolved

Law and Justus Division advised to obtain a fresh approval of newly formedprovincial assembly after February 18, 2008 election.

Government of Punjab stated earlier approval of the Provincial Assembly isvalid.

Federal Cabinet of the present Government, approved on September 09, 2009.

It was introduced in the NA on January 11, 2010

The Bill was placed before the NA Standing Committee on Food and Agricultureand after proposed amendments; it was desired to seek the legal position after18 th amendment.

Law Division advised to obtain fresh resolution from the provinces in terms of Article 144 of the constitution.

The Bill was sent to Provincial Assembly (Sindh) through Mr. Nazar M. Gondal,MNA and Mir Israrullah Khan Zehri, FAM on the advice of the President of Pakistan.


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Salient Fea tures of the Plant Breeders Right Bill

1) Encouraging plant breeders and seed organizations of both in public and private sectorto invest in research and plant breeding.

2) Development of superior varieties of field, vegetable and ornamental crops.

3) Contributing to development and availability of new technologies and making additionalresources available to support research.

4) Creating healthy competition for variety development among public and private sectororganizations.

5) Stimulation of investment in plant breeding and seed industry through legal protectionagainst the commercial exploitation of their products.

6) Facilitate an access to protected foreign varieties,

7) Protection of local varieties abroad.

8) Facilitate in generating revenues for Public Sector Research Institutes and financialincentives for Plant Breeders for more committed and dedicated Research for thedevelopment of new plant varieties.

9) Documentation of the varietals development Programmes of the country along withtheir breeding history, pedigree, parentage, yield potential and detailed botanicaldescription of varieties to help in establishing future breeding strategies for the youngerscientist, researchers along with facilitation for seed export based on the varietypassport data.

Documents

Brief on Seed Act