To require persons who seek to retain seed harvested from the planting of patented seeds to register with the Secretary of Agriculture and pay fees set by the Secretary for retaining such seed, and for other purposes.

Summary: Seed Availability and Competition Act of 2004 - Requires persons who seek to retain seed harvested from the planting of patented seeds to register with the Secretary of Agriculture and pay related fees.

Establishes in the Treasury the Patented Seed Fund.

Imposes a tariff equal to the difference in fees in any case in which: (1) genetically modified seed on which royalties or licensing or other fees are charged by the patent owner to U.S. purchasers is exported, and (2) no such fees, or lesser fee amounts, are charged to foreign purchasers of the exported seed.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Seed Availability and Competition 
Act of 2004''.

SEC. 2. RETAINING PATENTED SEED.

    (a) Registration.--Any person who plants patented seed or seed 
derived from patented seed may retain seed from the harvest of the 
planted seed for replanting by that person if that person--
            (1) submits to the Secretary of Agriculture notice, in such 
        form as the Secretary may require, of the type and quantity of 
        seed to be retained and any other information the Secretary 
        determines to be appropriate; and
            (2) pays the fee established by the Secretary pursuant to 
        subsection (b) for the type and quantity of seed retained.
    (b) Fees.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall establish a fee to be 
paid by a person pursuant to subsection (a)(2) based on the type and 
quantity of seed retained. The Secretary shall deposit amounts 
collected pursuant to subsection (a)(2) in the Patented Seed Fund 
established under subsection (e)(1).
    (c) Refunds.--The Secretary of Agriculture may refund or make an 
adjustment of the fee paid pursuant to subsection (a)(2) when the 
person is unable to plant or harvest the retained seed as a result of a 
natural disaster or related condition and under such other 
circumstances as the Secretary considers such refund or adjustment 
appropriate.
    (d) Distributions.--The Secretary of Agriculture shall pay the 
collected fees to the appropriate patent holders, at a frequency that 
the Secretary determines is appropriate, from the Patented Seed Fund 
established under subsection (e)(1), taking into consideration the 
possibility of refunds pursuant to subsection (c).
    (e) Patented Seed Fund.--
            (1) Establishment.--There is established in the Treasury of 
        the United States a fund to be known as the ``Patented Seed 
        Fund'', consisting of such amounts as may be received by the 
        Secretary and deposited into such Fund as provided in this 
        section.
            (2) Administration.--The Fund shall be administered by the 
        Secretary of Agriculture and all moneys in the Fund shall be 
        distributed solely by the Secretary in accordance with this 
        section and shall not be distributed or appropriated for any 
        other purpose. Amounts in the Fund are available without 
        further appropriation and until expended to make payments to 
        patent holders.
    (f) Inapplicability of Contracts and Patent Fees.--A person who 
retains seed under subsection (a) from the harvest of patented seed or 
seed derived from patented seed shall not be bound by any contractual 
limitation on retaining such seed, or by any requirement to pay 
royalties or licensing or other fees, by reason of the patent, for 
retaining such seed.
    (g) Definition.--In this section, the term ``patented seed'' means 
seed for which a person holds a valid patent.

SEC. 3. TARIFF ON CERTAIN IMPORTED PRODUCTS.

    (a) Tariff.--In any case in which--
            (1) genetically modified seed on which royalties or 
        licensing or other fees are charged by the owner of a patent on 
        such seed to persons purchasing the seed in the United States 
        is exported, and
            (2) no such fees, or a lesser amount of such fees, are 
        charged to purchasers of the exported seed in a foreign 
        country,
then there shall be imposed on any product of the exported seed from 
that foreign country that enters the customs territory of the United 
States a duty determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in addition 
to any duty that otherwise applies, in an amount that recovers the 
difference between the fees paid by purchasers of the seed in the 
United States and purchasers of the exported seed in that country.
    (b) Deposit of Duties.--There shall be deposited in the Patented 
Seed Fund established by section 2(e)(1) the amount of all duties 
collected under subsection (a) for distribution to the appropriate 
patent holders in accordance with section 2(d).
    (c) Definition.--In this section--
            (1) the term ``genetically modified seed'' means any seed 
        that contains a genetically modified material, was produced 
        with a genetically modified material, or is descended from a 
        seed that contained a genetically modified material or was 
        produced with a genetically modified material; and
            (2) the term ``genetically modified material'' means 
        material that has been altered at the molecular or cellular 
        level by means that are not possible under natural conditions 
        or processes (including recombinant DNA and RNA techniques, 
        cell fusion, microencapsulation, macroencapsulation, gene 
        deletion and doubling, introducing a foreign gene, and changing 
        the positions of genes), other than a means consisting 
        exclusively of breeding, conjugation, fermentation, 
        hybridization, in vitro fertilization, tissue culture, or 
        mutagenesis.