CIRCULAR No.02-NN/KNKL/TT OF MARCH 1st, 1997 GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DECREE No.07-CP OF THE GOVERNMENT ON THE MANAGEMENT OF PLANT BREEDS

In furtherance of Article 25 of Decree No.07-CP of February 5, 1996 of the Government on the management of plant breeds, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development gives the following concrete guidance for its implementation:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. The terminology on plant breeds and gene sources referred to in the Decree are further explained and concretized as follows:

a/ The plant breeds under the scope of regulation of this Decree comprise the vegetal materials used in hybridization, selection, multiplication and consumption in agricultural production and forestry: seeds, tubers, fruits, roots, trunks, branches, leaves, saplings, scions, buds, flowers, molecular tissue, spores and mycelia.

b/ prototype breed (also called author breed in agriculture, and mother plant in forestry) can be multiplied as breed for large scale production only with permission from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

c/ Pure breed is a breed produced from an original breed or selected from production breeds according to the process of production of pure breeds and achieving the quality standard of a pure breed.

A dominant cross-bred group used in production is also called strain (hybrid). The seed of a hybrid must not be used as seed for the next generation.

2. Subject to the implementation of Decree No.07-CP of the Government on the management of plant breed are the organizations and individuals in the country and abroad operating in the domain of preserving gene sources; research and the selection of breeds; test production and recognition of new breeds; the production, trading and import or export of plant breeds; performing State management over breeds, managing the quality of plant breeds and use plant breeds on Vietnamese territory.

Chapter II

MANAGEMENT AND USE OF GENE SOURCES

1. The gene sources used in the selection of new breeds and in agriculture and forestry are a national property under unified State management. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (the Science-Technology and Product Quality Department) shall manage the gene sources in the whole country.

2. Depending on each kind of vegetal materials of agriculture and forestry plant breed, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (the Science-Technology and Product Quality Department) shall assign to the scientific research agencies or the Agriculture and Rural Development Services in the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government (provincial authority for short) the task of looking after their preservation (there will be a separate document providing the list of vegetal materials on plant breeds and the assignment of managerial responsibilities therefor).

3. The gene sources of plant breeds for agriculture and forestry introduced into Vietnam in all forms must be reported to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (the Science-Technology and Product Quality Department) on the origins, quantities, genres and places of preservation. They can be exploited and used only with the permission of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

4. The preservation, exploitation, use and exchange of gene sources shall comply with the stipulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Chapter III

SELECTING, EXPERIMENTING WITH, RATIFYING AND RECOGNIZING BREEDS

1. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (the Science-Technology and Product Quality Department) exerts State management in the selection, experimentation and trial production of the various breeds of plant. Each year, the Scientific Council of the Ministry shall organize the ratification of the new breeds of agriculture and forestry plants, the breed plants, the nurseries and nursing forests or the transformed nursing forests, and submit them to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development for approval and recognition.

2. Before they are put into production, all the breeds of plants newly selected or imported must go through experimentation or trial production. An organization or individual having a new plant breed must fill procedures to apply for experimentation or trial production and register with the Science-Technology and Product Quality Department. The latter shall assign the unit to conduct the experimentation and trial production. The cost of experimentation and trial production shall be borne by the organization or individual that sends it according to the stipulation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

3. The breeds which have been recognized for a specific ecological area must go through a trial production when it is transferred to another area. For a breed which is being used in large-scale production, when defects damaging to production are detected, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development shall issue a decision to stop its production.

4. For the breeds not yet recognized, they must get permission from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for the production of a given quantity of breed plants.

5. An organization or individual that has a new breed of agriculture or forestry plant may register it with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment in order to protect its copyright as prescribed by law.

Chapter IV

PRODUCTION, TRADING, IMPORT AND EXPORT OF PLANT BREEDS

1. An organization or individual that produce plant breeds for sale must have the permission of the Agriculture and Rural Development Service. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (the Agriculture and Forestry Promotion Department) shall grant permits to the organizations under central management, the foreign organizations or individuals or joint ventures with foreigners producing breeds in Vietnam. The provincial Agriculture and Rural Development Service shall issue permits to the organizations and individuals under the jurisdiction of the provincial authority.

2. A breed producing organization or individual must ensure the following conditions:

a/ It must have a professional staff with deep knowledge of the technique of plant breed production.

b/ It must have all the required conditions for producing plant breeds.

c/ It is allowed to produce only recognized breeds. In case it decides to produce a local breed or breeds, it must get a permit from a competent agency in the locality (the Agriculture and Rural Development Service).

d/ It must strictly observe the technical process prescribed for each level and kind of breed.

3. With regard to industrial trees and perennial fruit trees, it is allowed to multiply only the breeds already recognized (by sexual or asexual method to be defined for each kind of plant by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development).

4. With regard to the plant breeds used in afforestation with State budget fund, it must use the species already prescribed, in terms of both structure and origin.

5. To get a business permit in agricultural and forestry plant breed (from the Ministry of Planning or the provincial People�s Committee), an organization or individual shall have to go through an expertise by the Agriculture and Rural Development Service.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall conduct the expertise with regard to the organizations directly under the Central Government, and foreign organizations or individuals, or joint ventures with foreign countries in Vietnam.

The provincial Agriculture and Rural Development Service shall conduct the expertise with regard to the organizations and individuals under the jurisdiction of the provincial authority.

6. An organization or individual engaged in plant breed business must ensure the following conditions:

a/ They must have a professional staff with deep knowledge of plant breeds.

b/ They must have storage facilities and the equipment for control and evaluation of the quality of the breeds.

7. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development manages the import and export of agricultural and forestry breeds in the whole country.

All import and export of agriculture and forestry plant breeds in any form must be permitted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The Agriculture and Forestry Promotion Department is the agency managing the import and export of agriculture and forestry plant breeds. It shall have to monitor, synthetize, put forth and conduct procedures for the import and export of agriculture and forestry plant breeds and submit them to the Ministry for signing.

The application dossier for plant breed import and export comprises:

- The application for plant breed import and export.

- The business permit in plant breed import and export.

- The contract for plant breed import and export.

- If the unit is under the management of the provincial authority, there must be a proposal of the provincial People�s Committee.

With regard to the units having no permit for import and export, the Ministry of Trade shall issue the import and export permit after the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has given its consent.

The import and export of plant breeds must be carried out according to the Ordinance on Plant Protection and Epidemiology.

8. An organization or individual that has been granted a permit for the production, trading and import and export of plant breeds shall have to operate according to the prescriptions in the permit. Annually they have to report to the permit issuing unit on the situation of the production, trading and import and export of agriculture and forestry plant breeds.

9. The different kinds of agriculture and forestry plant breeds circulated on the market must go through quality control and must be provided with quality certificates, have a trade mark and packing conforming to the modalities already registered with the competent agency.

Traders in plant breeds have to take responsibility for their quality toward the users. They have to pay damages to the users if the damage is caused by the low quality of the breeds.

10. An organization or individual engaged in plant breed business shall have to pay the fee according to the current regulations if their operation remains in the period covered by the copyright law.

Chapter V

EXAMINATION, TESTING AND ISSUE OF CERTIFICATE FOR PLANT BREEDS

1. When they are put into production or business, the agriculture and forestry plant breeds must have a certificate proving that they have gone through an examination on the field and quality test.

The imported breeds must go through quality test. Only those which meet the prescribed quality standard shall be granted a certificate.

2. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (the Science-Technology and Product Quality Department) shall exert its function of State management concerning the examination and testing and issue of certificates of plant breed quality in the whole country. This State management function is assigned as follows:

a/ At the central level: the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (the Science-Technology and Product Quality Department) shall have the responsibility:

- To organize the network of examination and testing at the central level and the main agricultural and forestry ecological areas.

- To submit to the Ministry for the issue of documents guiding the contents of the examination, testing and issue of certificates of plant breed quality.

- To organize the training of specialists in examination and testing in the whole country.

- To organize the examination, testing and issue of quality certificates to the breeds under the management of the organizations directly under the Central Government and the foreign organizations and individuals or joint ventures with foreign countries.

b/ At the provincial level, the Agriculture and Rural Development Service has the responsibility:

- To organize a section for the examination and testing of agriculture and forestry plant breeds directly under the Service.

- To conduct the examination and testing and the issue of quality certificates for the breeds of the organizations and individuals under the management of the provincial authority.

- The provinces and cities directly under the Central Government provided with regional examination and testing stations of the Ministry or neighboring provinces are allowed to empower these stations to conduct the examination and testing but the issue of the quality control certificates must be signed by the Agriculture and Rural Development Service.

3. The cost of examination, testing and issue of quality certificates shall be borne by the organizations and individuals that have the breeds and shall be remitted according to the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development subject to the consent of the Ministry of Finance.

4. The organization and individual responsible for the examination and testing of the plant breeds that wrongly determine the quality and cause damage to the user or the importer and exporter of breeds shall have to pay conpensations for the damage.

Chapter VI

RESERVE PLANT BREEDS AGAINST NATURAL CALAMITIES

1. Annually the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to work out the plan of reserve plant breeds against natural calamities and submit it to the Government for ratification.

The reserve breeds in agriculture at present comprise: rice, maize, beans, peanuts, vegetables of various kinds; in forestry they are pine and eucalyptus.

Basing itself on the ratified plan, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall assign to a number of agriculture and forestry plant breed companies the duty to purchase, preserve and rotate the breeds as prescribed.

2. The provinces are allowed to set up the reserve breeds fund against natural calamities in the locality.

The quantity, kinds and cost of the reserve breeds and the unit to purchase and preserve them shall be decided by the provincial People�s Committee.

Chapter VII

POLICY ON PLANT BREEDS

1. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall work out the annual plan of investment and submit to the State for ratification in order to invest in the strengthening of the material and technical bases, ensuring the activities of the scientific agencies and State enterprises in performing the following tasks:

- To preserve the gene sources in the following activities: collection, importation, preservation, evaluation, exploitation and use.

- To select and restore the agriculture and forestry plant breeds.

- To experiment with and test the breeds.

- To manage the quality of the plant breeds.

- To train specialized workers for the preservation of the gene sources, selection, examination, testing, preservation, production and trading of plant breeds.

2. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development together with the Ministry of Finance shall submit to the State for promulgation of a number of policies on plant breeds,

- To reduce taxes to the minimum for the units producing prototype breeds, pure breeds and newly recognized and newly imported breeds.

- The scientific, research, production and business agencies are entitled to priority credit borrowings.

- To reduce import tax to the minimum (0%) for all the imported plant breeds.

- Price subsidy policies for the preservation of the prototype breed (agriculture) and mother plant (forestry); to build plant breed nurseries and nursing forests.

3. At the provincial level: the Agriculture and Rural Development Service shall work out documents to provide concrete guidance on the implementation of the policy on plant breeds within the provincial territory and submit them to the provincial People�s Committee for approval.

4. An organization or individual that creates a new plant breed or import a breed beneficial to production shall be commended and rewarded as prescribed.

5. The State encourages and protects the lawful interests and the equal rights of the organizations and individuals inside and outside the country that conduct research, selection, import, production and trading of plant breeds in the whole territory of Vietnam.

Chapter VIII

STATE MANAGEMENT OF PLANT BREEDS

1. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development assigns to the departments under its jurisdiction the duty to conduct State management over plant breeds. This State management function is ascribed as follows:

a/ The Science-Technology and Product Quality Department:

- To compile regulatory documents on the management of gene sources and submit them to the Ministry or Interministries for promulgation; the documents on the technical processes and regulations for various breeds; the regulations on experimentation with and test production of various plant breeds; the regulations on the examination, testing and the issue of quality certificates for plant breeds; the regulations on the procedures of registration, expertise and issue of invention diplomas and proposing reward for the organizations and individuals with meritorious records in the creation of new plant breeds.

- To carry out periodical or unexpected inspection of the preservation, exploitation and use of the gene sources.

b/ The Agriculture and Forestry Promotion Department and the Forestry Development Department:

- To compile documents to guide, direct and control the implementation of the State management on plant breeds and submit them to the Ministry for promulgation or for promulgation on its own.

- To manage the consideration for granting or withdrawing permits related to the production, trading and import and export of plant breeds.

- To work out the general plan or plan for the formation of a system of plant breeds, and the plan of investment in the production of plant breeds.

- To work out projects for international cooperation in the domain of plant breeds.

- To control and inspect or to cooperate with the Agriculture and Rural Development Service in the provinces to carry out the control and inspection and to handle the violations of the management of plant breeds in the whole country.

- To help the Ministry in the State management over the reserve breeds against natural calamities.

2. The Agriculture and Rural Development Service in the provinces shall perform the function of State management over plant breeds in the provincial territory according to the stipulations in Article 21 of Decree No.07-CP of the Government.

3. The organizations and individuals that violate this Decree shall, depending on the seriousness of the violation, be subjected to administrative sanctions, and in serious cases, be examined for penal liability and shall have to pay material compensations as prescribed by law.

4. All organizations and individuals engaged in the production, trading, import and export of plant breeds shall be subject to the control and supervision of the competent agencies mentioned in this Circular, the Ordinance on Goods Quality and the Decree of the Government on the control and handling of the production and trading of faked goods.

Chapter IX

IMPLEMENTATION PROVISION

All organizations and individuals of all economic sectors that operate in the domain of plant breeds on the territory of Vietnam shall have to implement this Circular.

This Circular takes effect on the date of its signing. The earlier regulations which are contrary to this Circular are now annulled.

In the process of implementation should any problem arise, it must be reported in time to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for settlement.

For the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

Vice Minister