Background & Enactment

• Enacted by the Indian Parliament in 2001.
• The rules were notified in 2003 by the Department of Agriculture, now functioning under the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• Administered by the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority, headquartered in New Delhi.

Purpose of the Act

• To recognize and protect the rights of plant breeders and farmers.
• To encourage the development of new plant varieties.
• To ensure availability of high-quality seeds and planting material to farmers.
• To comply with India’s international obligations under the TRIPS Agreement.

 International Context – TRIPS Agreement, Article 27.3(b)

According to Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement (WTO):

“...Members shall provide for the protection of plant varieties either by patents or by an effective sui generis system or by any combination thereof.”

• "Sui generis" means "of its own kind" – allowing flexibility to countries to devise their own system for plant variety protection.
• India chose to adopt a sui generis system, rather than including plant varieties under patents.
• This led to the formulation of the PPV&FR Act, 2001, which is TRIPS-compliant and customized for Indian needs, especially recognizing the role of farmers as cultivators and conservers.

Key features of the Act:

• The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001 is a progressive and balanced legislation enacted by the Indian Parliament to provide a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of plant varieties while safeguarding the rights of farmers and encouraging innovation in agriculture.

• Under the Act, key stakeholders are granted specific rights: breeders have the right to register new plant varieties and commercialize them; farmers have the right to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share, or sell farm produce including seeds; and researchers are allowed to use registered varieties for research and breeding new varieties.

• The Act extends protection to new, extant, and farmers’ varieties and includes provisions for compulsory licensing in the public interest, benefit-sharing, and compensation mechanisms. It also rewards farmers for conserving traditional plant varieties.

• For a plant variety to be registered under the Act, it must meet the DUS criteria- Distinctiveness, Uniformity, and Stability. The PPV&FR Authority is responsible for the registration of plant varieties, documentation of farmers’ varieties and traditional knowledge, promoting public awareness, and establishing a Gene Fund for benefit sharing.

• By combining incentives for plant breeders with strong protections and recognition for farmers, especially those preserving agro-biodiversity, the PPV&FR Act sets a global precedent for equitable, sustainable, and food security-focused plant variety protection laws.

• In India, plant varieties eligible for registration under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Act, 2001 include new varieties, extant varieties, varieties notified under the Seeds Act, 1966, farmers’ varieties, varieties of common knowledge, and essentially derived varieties (EDVs).

• The duration of protection varies based on the type of crop: for trees and vines, protection lasts for 18 years from the date of registration with an initial term of 9 years, extendable by another 9 years; for other crops, the protection lasts for 15 years, starting with an initial term of 6 years and extendable by 9 years. In the case of extant notified varieties, protection lasts 15 years from the date of notification under the Seeds Act, 1966.

• Registering a plant variety offers several benefits: it adds aesthetic and commercial value, enhances marketability, provides legal protection that can be enforced in court, and grants the breeder or farmer an exclusive right in the market, thereby strengthening their licensing and commercialization potential.

• The key objectives of the PPV&FR Act are to establish an effective system for protecting plant varieties and the rights of both farmers and breeders; to acknowledge farmers' contributions in conserving, improving, and sharing plant genetic resources; to safeguard breeders’ rights in order to encourage private and public investment in research and development; and to support the growth of a vibrant seed industry that ensures the production and availability of high-quality seeds and planting material.