The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act, 2001
2. Definitions.-
In this Act, unless
the context otherwise requires,-
a.
"Authority"
means the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Authority
established under sub-section (1) of section 3;
b.
"benefit
sharing", in relation to a variety, means such proportion of the benefit
accruing to a breeder of such variety or such proportion of the benefit
accruing to the breeder from an agent or a licensee of such variety, as the
case may be, for which a claimant shall be entitled as determined by the
Authority under section 26;
c.
"breeder"
means a person or group of persons or a farmer or group of farmers or any
institution which has bred, evolved or developed any variety;
d.
"Chairman"
means the Chairman of the Tribunal;
e.
"Chairperson"
means the Chairperson of the Authority appointed under clause (a) of
sub-section (5) of section 3;
f.
"convention
country" means a country which has acceded to an international convention
for the protection of plant varieties to which India has also acceded, or a
country which has a law on protection of plant varieties on the basis of which
India has entered into an agreement for granting plant breeders' right to the
citizens of both the countries;
g.
"denomination",
in relation to a variety or its propagating material or essentially derived
variety or its propagating material, means the denomination of such variety or
its propagating material or essentially derived variety or its propagating
material, as the case may be, expressed by means of letters or a combination of
letters and figures written in any language;
h.
"essential
characteristics" means such heritable traits of a plant variety which are
determined by the expression of one or more genes of other heritable
determinants that contribute to the principal features, performance or value of
the plant variety;
i.
"essentially
derived variety", in respect of a variety (the initial variety) shall be
said to be essentially derived from such initial variety when it-
i.
is
predominantly derived from such initial variety, or from a variety that itself
is predominantly derived from such initial variety, while retaining the
expression of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype or
combination of genotypes of such initial variety;
is
clearly distinguishable from such initial variety; and
iii.
conforms
(except for the differences which result from the act of derivation) to such
initial variety in the expression of the essential characteristics that result
from the genotype or combination of genotypes of such initial variety;
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
"extant
variety" means a variety available in India which is-
i.
notified
under section 5 of the Seeds Act, 1966 (54 of 1966); or
farmers'
variety; or
iii.
a
variety about which there is common knowledge; or
iv.
any
other variety which is in public domain;
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
"farmer"
means any person who-
i.
cultivates
crops by cultivating the land himself; or
cultivates
crops by directly supervising the cultivation of land through any other person;
or
iii.
conserves
and preserves, severally or jointly, with any person any wild species or
traditional varieties or adds value to such wild species or traditional
varieties through selection and identification of their useful properties;
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
"farmers'
variety" means a variety which-
i.
has
been traditionally cultivated and evolved by the farmers in their fields; or
is
a wild relative or land race of a variety about which the farmers possess the
common knowledge;
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
l.
m.
"Gene
Fund" means the National Gene Fund constituted under sub-section (1) of
section 45;
n.
"Judicial
Member" means a Member of the Tribunal appointed as such under sub-section
(1) of section 55 and includes the Chairman;
o.
"Member"
means a Judicial Member or a Technical Member of the Tribunal and includes the
Chairman;
p.
"member"
means a member of the Authority appointed under clause (b) of sub-section (5)
of section 3 and includes the member-secretary;
q.
"prescribed"
means prescribed by rules made under this Act;
r.
"propagating
material" means any plant or its component or part thereof including an
intended seed or seed which is capable of, or suitable for, regeneration into a
plant;
s.
"Register"
means the National Register of Plant Varieties referred to in section 13;
t.
"Registrar"
means a Registrar of Plant Varieties appointed under sub-section (4) of section
12 and includes the Registrar-General;
u.
"Registrar-General"
means the Registrar-General of Plant Varieties appointed under sub-section (3)
of section 12;
v.
"Registry"
means the Plant Varieties Registry referred to in sub-section (1) of section
12;
w.
"regulations"
mean the regulations made by the Authority under this Act;
x.
"seed"
means a type of living embryo or propagate capable of regeneration and giving
rise to a plant which is true to such type;
y.
"Tribunal"
means the Plant Varieties Protection Appellate Tribunal established under
section 54;
z.
"Technical
Member" means a Member of the Tribunal who is not a Judicial Member;
aa.
ba.
ca.
da.
ea.
fa.
ga.
ha.
ia.
ja.
ka.
la.
ma.
na.
oa.
pa.
qa.
ra.
sa.
ta.
ua.
va.
wa.
xa.
ya.
za.
"variety"
means a plant grouping except micro organism within a single botanical tax on
of the lowest known rank, which can be-
i.
defined
by the expression of the characteristics resulting from a given genotype of
that plant grouping;
distinguished
from any other plant grouping by expression of at least one of the said
characteristics; and
iii.
considered
as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated, which remains
unchanged after such propagation. and includes propagating material of such
variety, extant variety, transgenic variety, farmers' variety and essentially
derived variety.