Detailed Explanation of the Three Most Important Changes in the Seed Law Revision

The revision of the Seed Law is mainly reflected in three aspects: variety approval for major crops, registration for non-major crops, and protection of new plant varieties.

At present, China's seed industry is still in its primary stage of development, and the conditions for completely abolishing the approval system are not yet mature. Therefore, this revision of the Seed Law has adopted a gradual approach. On the basis of retaining the current approval system, it has reduced the types of major crops subject to approval, from 28 approved varieties in the past to 5, while also standardizing the approval of major crop varieties and opening a green channel. In the future, there may be a transition from approval as the core to registration as the core, but the bottom line of seed use safety must be ensured and not breached.

The draft proposes establishing a registration system for non-major crops. This is conducive to preventing counterfeit and knockoff products from entering the market at the source. It reduces information asymmetry and lays the foundation for establishing a traceable management system. It can provide correct guidance for government departments, farmers and enterprises. It is conducive to safeguarding seed industry security, food security and biosafety.

The draft adds content on the protection of new plant varieties. It proposes the concept of essentially derived varieties, which is conducive to curbing low-level plagiarism, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of breeders, and encouraging original innovation. As for which crops need to implement essentially derived varieties, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Forestry shall make relevant provisions, reflecting a combination of principle and flexibility.