The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Right Act intents to protect the new plant varieties, and the right of farmers and plant breeders to protect the newly developed plant varieties.

Idea is to respect and recognizes the farmers’ contribution for conserving and improving the plant genetic resources for developing new plant varieties and thereby contributing to the agricultural development of the country. This also ensures the development of the high quality seed and planting materials.

Plant Varieties and Farmers' Right Authority

It consists of a chairperson and fifteen members. The chairperson must be a person having calibre and eminence in plant variety research and agricultural development. The Authority consist of the following members.

Official from the Government of India

• Responsible for the development and protection of farmers' and plant breeders' right
• Performs the registration of new plant varieties and maintains a register
• Performs the documentation, developing characterization, indexing, cataloguing of farmers' varieties, and compulsory cataloguing facilities for all varieties of plants
• Invokes compulsory licensing provision in order to ensure the availability of the seeds registered
• Collects the statistics of plant varieties for compilation and publication

Registry

Plant Variety Registry is headed by the Registrar-General.

National Register

A national register containing the details of the registered plant varieties, breeders and their rights is kept at the head office of the registry

Registrars

The authority will appoint registrars to carryout the registration of plant varieties.

Criteria for Registration

Novelty is the basic requirement for registration of newly developed plant variety having the following characteristics

• Distinctiveness - any new plant variety having distinctive character unique to the variety is eligible for registration
• Uniformity – newly developed plant has to give uniform characters in terms of production and quality particular to the variety
• Stability – newly developed variety has to show stability in terms of yield 

Who is entitled to register a new plant variety?

• A breeder of the variety or his successor or assignee
• A farmer or group of farmers
• A community of farmers claiming to be the breeder of the variety
• Any university or publically funded institution claiming to be the breeder of the variety

Application format of plant variety must have the following ingredients

• After acceptance of the application, fulfilling all the required formalities, the application will be advertised in the journal
• Wait for objections for three months. If any objection comes up in writing the copy of the same must be forwarded to the applicant for filing his counter statement with proof of his claims
• Registrar will hear both the parties by giving both the parties chance to adduce evidence in support of their claims and based on that an application will be determined to be a registerable one or not

Duration of registration

• 9 years in case of trees and vines
• 6 years in case of other crops

Renewal

A plant variety can be renewed for the same period, however the total period shall not exceed 18 years in the case of trees and vines and 15 years in the case of other crops.

Benefit Sharing

The authority after issuing the certificate of registration invites claims of benefit sharing. Any person or group or firm or governmental or non-governmental organization can file a claim of benefit sharing which will be forwarded to the applicant for his objection to benefit sharing. After hearing both sides, the Registrar will dispose of the claim.

The breeder must deposit certain quantity of registered seed with the National Gene Bank.

Registration confers an exclusive right to the breeder or his successor, his agent or licensee, to produce, sell, market, distribute, import or export the variety.

Exemption from Registration

Any variety that will seriously prejudice the public order or public morality or human, animal and plant life and health

Any new variety that is dangerous to the environment

Farmers Right

• A farmer is entitled to save, use, sow, resow, exchange, share, or sell his farm produce including seed of a variety protected under this Act
• Any farmer who has bred or developed a variety is entitled for protection
• A  farmer who is engaged in conservation of genetic resources of land races and wild relatives of economic plants and their improvement through selection and preservation is entitled for reward and recognition from the gene fund
• The farmer has the right to know the expected performance of the seed under given condition sold to them by the breeder
• The farmers have the right to claim compensation, if the planting material fails to provide the expected performance

Rights of the Community

Any village or local community in India can claim the credit for the contribution to a particular plant variety registered as a new plant variety. Any person or group of persons or any governmental or non-governmental organization may on behalf of the people of the village or community can calim their contribution in the evolution of a variety.

Compulsory Licensing

If any person who obtained the registration for a new plant variety fails to satisfy the reasonable requirement of the public for the seeds at a reasonable price; there is provision for compulsory licensing after an expiry of three year period from the date of issue of the certificate of a variety. If the requirement of the public for seed has not been satisfied at reasonable price, any person can make an application to the authority requesting for the grant of compulsory license to undertake production and distribution.

The authority after consultation with Central Government and after giving an opportunity to hear both the parties, may dispose off the application for compulsory license.

Plant Varieties Protection Tribunal, Appellate Tribunal

Tribunal consist of