Bill for protection of new plant varieties

Saturday, July-20-2013

Intellectual Property Organisation (IPO) Director General (DG) Tariq Feroze on Friday said that Plant Breeders Registry Bill (PBR) 2013 will provide intellectual property rights to the breeders of new plant varieties.

He expressed these views while chairing a consultative meeting on Draft Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) Bill, 2013.

Federal Certification and Registration Department (FSC & RD) Director General Muhammad Nasir Ali, Seed Certification Officer Saeed Iqbal, Director-II Inam ul Haq, Deputy Director (Law) Nadia Zubair Shah, Deputy Director (PBR) Muhammad Ismail, Assistant Director (PBR) Humera Ihsan and Assistant Director (Law) Aamir Latif attended the meeting.

IPO DG said, “Plant Breeders Rights are specific type of Intellectual Property Rights granted to the breeders of new varieties of plants and to comply with the WTO/TRIPS Agreement the government has already introduced several laws in the field of Intellectual Property such as patents, trademarks, copyright and industrial designs.

It was informed in the meeting that Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (FSC&RD) prepared initial draft of Plant Breeders Rights Law in 2003 to give effect to the provisions of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) which the government has approved, relating to protection of new plant varieties.

Federal Certification and Registration Department Director General Muhammad Nasir Ali said, “PBR system will be helpful to provide an effective intellectual property right system for granting protection to the development of new plant varieties and to establish a viable seed industry for the improvement of agriculture, to ensure the availability of high quality seeds and planting material to the farmers.”

He observed that it will promote Research and Development (R&D) in the field of agriculture and attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for economic development of the country. PBR Deputy Director Muhammad Ismail gave a detailed presentation on the important segments of Draft Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) Bill, 2013. 

Source: Pakistan Today