Plant Varieties and Seeds Act 1964

22 Performance trials and reports for new varieties within a section of the Index

(1) If the Ministers by order bring this section into force for any class of plant varieties in the Index, this section shall apply to any new plant variety within the class.

An order under this subsection may be revoked by a subsequent order, but without prejudice to liability for any offence before the revocation takes effect; and any order under this subsection shall be made by statutory instrument after consultation with representatives of such interests as appear to the Ministers to be concerned and any such statutory instrument shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(2) For the purposes of this section a plant variety shall be a new variety if it was not in the Index when the order under the foregoing subsection came into force unless it has been exempted under the next following subsection.

(3) The Ministers may on an application from any person, and on being satisfied that seed of a plant variety, although unindexed, was in commercial use in Great Britain before the order under subsection (1) of this section took effect, exempt that plant variety from the provisions of this section.

An appeal shall lie to the Tribunal against the refusal of an application under this subsection.

(4) Subject to this section, it shall be an offence under this section—

(a) to sell seed of a new plant variety to which this section applies, or

(b) to offer or expose for sale any such seed, or

(c) to advertise for use any such seed,

until seed of that plant variety has been submitted for the purpose of performance trials of that plant variety in accordance with this section, and until a report on the result of the performance trials has been published in the manner prescribed by regulations under this section; and paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subsection shall apply whether or not the offer for sale or advertisement relates only to sales after the performance trials and report.

(5) Paragraphs (a) and (b) of the last foregoing subsection shall not apply to a sale or offer for sale of seed which is not in Great Britain when the sale or offer for sale is made; but, subject to this section, where a person has acquired seed of a new plant variety to which this section applies, being seed which was not in Great Britain when he acquired it, it shall be an offence under this section for him in the course of business—

(a) to use any of that seed in Great Britain as reproductive material at any time when under the last foregoing subsection it is unlawful to sell seed of that plant variety there; or

(b) at any such time so to dispose of any of that seed (otherwise than by way of sale) while it is in Great Britain as to make it available for use there as reproductive material.

(6) Subsection (4) of this section shall not apply to any sale or offer for sale of the kind described in subsection (3) of the last foregoing section, and subsection (5) of this section shall not apply to the use of seed for the purpose of carrying out tests or trials.

(7) If it appears to the Ministers that a new plant variety to which this section applies has undergone performance trials and that an adequate report of the result of those performance trials is generally available, or that there is any other sufficient reason for dispensing with the requirements of subsections (4) and (5) of this section, they may direct that those subsections shall cease to apply to seed of that plant variety, but without prejudice to liability for any offence previously committed.

(8) For all new plant varieties to which this section applies there shall be a time limit by which (so far as practicable) the report on the result of the performance trials is to be published in accordance with this section; and if the report on the result of the performance trials of a new plant variety to which this section applies is not published within the time limit, subsections (4) and (5) of this section shall cease to apply to seed of that plant variety, but without prejudice to liability for any offence committed before the time limit ran out. Except so far as regulations under this section otherwise provide for a class or part of a class, the time limit shall be two years from the date on which the performance trials begin.

(9) The Ministers shall in making entries in a section of the Index after an order under subsection (1) of this section has taken effect—

(a) employ a method which will distinguish those entries from the earlier entries and indicate which of the later entries relate to plant varieties exempted under subsection (3) of this section, and

(b) make additional entries showing when subsections (4) and (5) of this section have ceased to apply to seeds of a new plant variety.

(10) The Ministers may by statutory instrument make regulations for the purposes of this section and, in particular, may by those regulations provide—

(a) for the manner of making applications under subsection (3) of this section, and applications for submitting plant varieties for performance trials,

(b) for the information to be afforded by an applicant and the materials to be submitted at the time of application or subsequently,

(c) for the manner in which the reports are to be published and brought to the attention of those concerned,

(d) for the compiling of a register of applications for the submission of seeds for performance trials, of the reports of the results of those trials, and of the dates of publications of the reports, and for including entries which will show the date when the time limit under subsection (8) of this section will fall,

(e) for requiring the Ministers to publish notice of any direction under subsection (7) of this section, and of any case where a report is not published within the time limit under subsection (8) of this section,

and regulations under this subsection made with the approval of the Treasury may authorise the charging of fees to applicants for the submission of seeds for performance

A statutory instrument under this subsection shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(11) References in this section to advertising are references to advertising in any medium, including sound and television broadcasting ; but for the purposes of this section the communication of information in any publication for scientific purposes or purposes of research shall not be regarded as advertising.