finance
Japan Enacts Bill to Block Unauthorized Overseas Sales of Domestic Crops
Parliament passed revisions to the plant variety protection and seed law on Friday. The changes allow injunctions before breeder rights are granted and extend those rights by 10 years. Losses from Shine Muscat grapes alone reached nearly ¥20 billion annually.
Jul 17, 4:04 AM·1m read1 source
The Japan TimesAudio version
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Japan’s parliament enacted a bill on Friday to prevent the unauthorized sales of domestically developed agricultural products overseas, The Japan Times reported. The bill revises the plant variety protection and seed law and was approved at a plenary meeting of the House of Councilors.
It allows agricultural product developers to seek an injunction against unauthorized exports even before they obtain breeder rights, which grant exclusive sales rights after government registration.
Screening for registration currently takes three to six years, during which new varieties have often been sold abroad. The revision extends breeder rights by 10 years, to 40 years for fruit trees and 35 years for other crops. According to the agriculture ministry, Shine Muscat grapes sold overseas produced annual royalty losses of almost ¥20 billion ($123 million).
The ministry plans to establish an organization to protect breeder rights by the end of next month.
