Statutory Instrument 1998 No. 1024

The Plant Breeders' Rights (Information Notices) Regulations 1998

---

© Crown Copyright 1998

All Crown Copyrights are reserved. The following are concessions. Individuals are authorised to download this text to file or printer for their own individual use. Reproduction of the text for the purpose of developing and publishing value-added products is also allowed, without prior permission or charge, provided reproduction is accurate, not malicious and is accompanied by an acknowledgment of Crown copyright.

Any other proposed reproduction requires the consent of the Copyright Unit at Her Majesty's Stationery Office. For more details on the reproduction of Crown and Parliamentary copyright material, see the latest Her Majesty's Stationery Office Dear Publisher letter.

The text of this Internet version of the Statutory Instrument has been prepared to reflect the text as it was Made. The authoritative version is in printed form and is published by The Stationery Office Limited as the The Plant Breeders' Rights (Information Notices) Regulations 1998, ISBN 0 11 079013 8, £1.10 sterling. For details of how to obtain a printed copy see How to obtain The Stationery Office Limited titles.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Secretary of State for Wales and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, acting jointly, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by sections 14 and 48(1) of the Plant Varieties Act 1997[1], after consultation with such organisations as appear to them to be representative of persons likely to be substantially affected, hereby make the following Regulations:

Title and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Plant Breeders' Rights (Information Notices) Regulations 1998 and shall come into force on 8th May 1998.

Interpretation
2.  - (1) In these Regulations - 
 

"the Act" means the Plant Varieties Act 1997; and

"the holder of rights" in relation to a variety means the holder of plant breeders' rights in that variety.

Information notice as to harvested material
3.  - (1) An information notice for the purposes of section 14(4) of the Act (harvested material) - 
 

(a) shall be in the form set out in the Schedule to these Regulations;

(b) shall contain the particulars set out in paragraph (2); and

(c) shall contain a request for the information set out in paragraph (3).
 

(a) the registered name of the variety;

(b) the species of the variety;

(c) the date on which plant breeders' rights were granted in the variety;

(d) confirmation that the rights were granted under the Act;

(e) the name and address of the holder of rights;

(f) the name and address of the agent of the holder of rights, if one has been appointed; and

(g) the date on which the information notice was served.
 

(a) the name and address of the recipient of the information notice;

(b) the name and address of the person from whom the recipient of the information notice acquired possession of the material specified in the information notice;

(c) the date on which the recipient of the information notice acquired possession of the material specified in the information notice; and

(d) the size of the consignment of which the material specified in the information notice formed part.
 

Donoughue
Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

7th April 1998
 

Sewel
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Scottish Office

8th April 1998
 
 

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Wales
 

Win Griffiths
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Welsh Office

7th April 1998
 

Dubs
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office

8th April 1998
 
 

When Parts 1 and 2 of this notice are completed, it constitutes an information notice for the purposes of section 14(2) of the Plant Varieties Act 1997.

Failure to supply the information specified in Part 3 within 21 days of service of this notice will have the consequences set out in section 14 of the Plant Varieties Act 1997.
 
 

Specify in this Part of the notice the material to which the information notice relates:
 
 

Section 14(2) of the Plant Varieties Act 1997 provides that, in infringement proceedings, certain presumptions apply in respect of harvested material which is the subject of an information notice if the information requested in the notice is not provided within a prescribed period. The presumptions are that the material was obtained through unauthorised use of propagating material and that the holder of plant breeders' rights in the material did not have a reasonable opportunity before the material was obtained to exercise his rights in relation to the unauthorised use of the propagating material.

These Regulations prescribe the form of an information notice, the information which is to be requested in an information notice and certain other particulars which must be included in an information notice (regulation 3 and the Schedule).

These Regulations also prescribe that 21 days is the period within which the information must be provided (regulation 4).

A Regulatory Appraisal has been prepared and a copy has been placed in the library of both Houses of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Plant Variety Rights Office and Seeds Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, White House Lane, Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 0LF.

[1] 1997 c.66; see section 49(1) for the definition of "the Ministers".back