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The Republic of the Union of Myanmar  
The Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
New Plant Variety Protection Law  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The  -      -, 137 7 M.E. 
(   20th   ,   January      ,  201 6 ) 
 
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The Republic of the Union of Myanmar  
The Government  of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar  
Pant Variety Protection Law (Draft ) 
 
The  -      -, 1377 M.E.  
(     20th,   January ,  201 6) 
 (The Government of t he Republic of the Union of Myanmar Law No. 1/2012 )  
The Pub lic of the Parliament of Myanmar enacts  the following law : 
CHAPTER I  
TITLE , ENFOR CEMENT AND DEFINITIONS  
Article 1  
(1) This Law shall be called New  Plant Variety Protection Law. 
(2) This Law shall come into force commencing from the day of completion of one years 
of its promulgation.  
Article 2  
 The expressions contained in this Law shall have the meaning given hereunder:  
(a) “Plant”  means any living organism in the plant kingdom but excludes any micro -
organism;  
(b)   “variety”  means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest k nown 
rank, which grouping, can be defined by the expression of the characteristics  
resulting from a given genotype or combination of genotypes, distinguished from any 
other plant grouping by the expression of at least one of the said characteristics and 
considered as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated unchanged;  
 (c)  “new plant v ariety ” means  the variety which expresses at least one characteristic and 
feature from the existing variety, reveals uniformity in characters when it is cu ltivated 
and there is no change in characters through propagation;  
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(d)  “breeder”  
a. means the person who bred, or discovered and developed, a variety  including new 
plant variety , 
b. the pe rson who is the employer of the aforementioned person under  sub pa ragraph 
(3-a) 
c the successor in title of the (first or second) aforementioned pe rson under sub 
paragraph (3-a) and (3-b), as the case may be;  
(e)       “right for the protected new plant variety”  means the protected right to new plant 
variety which produ ced by the breeder if it can be used for the procedure mentioned 
in  this Law act twenty three  according to the permission  of that breeder.  
(f)  “breeder ’s right”  means the right of the breeder provided for in this Law  act twenty 
three  ; 
(g)  “propagat ing material s” mean the seed s (or) the whole p lant (or ) any  parts of the 
whole plant that can be used to reproduce;   
(h)  “harvested material ” means any part of a plant with potential economic value or any 
product made directly therefrom in proper cases.  
 (i) “recognition c ertificate ” means the certificate issued under this Law recognizing to 
produce or to introduce new plant variety;  
 (j) “Ministry ” means the  Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation ; 
(k)  “Central Committee”  means National New Plant Variety Protection Committee 
organized by Ministry according to the agreement of Union Cabinet.  
(l) “Department”  means  Department of Agriculture and Irrigation under Ministry of 
Agriculture and Irrigation.  
 
 
 
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CHAPTER   II 
OBJECTIVES  
Article 3  
The objectives of thi s Law are as follows:  
(a) to protect of the rights of breeders of new plant varieties  
(b) to develop the activities of plant breeding  
 (c) to encourage investments in and development of the breeding of new plant    
varieties in both public and private sec tors 
(d) to assist the agricultural sector development by producing and cultivation of the new 
improved varieties    
CHAPTER   III 
FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL PLANT VATIETY PROTECTION 
COMMITTEE  
Article 4  
The Ministries, with the approval of the cabinet:  
shall form the National  New  Pant Variety Protection  Committee comprising the Deputy 
Minister for the Ministry of  Agriculture and Irrigation as chairman, the Director 
General of Department of Agricultural Research as secretary, representatives from the 
relevant Government departments and  o rganizations, experts and other suitable persons 
as members.  
Article 5  
may dete rmine and assign duties to the vice -chairman and joint s ecretary in forming the 
National Pant Variety Protection  Committee under  paragraph (1)  
Artic le 6  
may reorganize, from time to time, the National Pant Variety Protection  Committee 
formed under paragraph (1)  
 
 
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CHAPTER  IV 
FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF THE NATIONAL PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION 
COMMITTEE  
Article 7 
Nationa l New Plant Variety Protection  Committ ee: 
(a) adopting the plant breeding policy for the development of the agricultural sector by 
cultivating and producing and using new plant variety;  
(b)  cooperating  with the Government departments and o rganizations, international 
organizations, internal an d external o rganizations and private sectors  relating to 
develop plant breeding activities;  
(c)  prescribing, for dispatching  and receiving necessary p lant materials of protected 
variety to enable to do research according to the bilateral agreement;  
(d)  assigning Technical P lant Variety Protection Committee  
 
Article 8  
When plant breeder applies the breeder right for the new plant variety, National New  
Plant Variety Protection Committee must give the recognition certificate to protect it, if 
it is complian ce with the  requirements of new plant variety in this Law.  
Article 9  
National  New  Plant Variety Protection Committee can give the determination  to permit 
any offence prosecuted under this Law  according to the  finding of Technical Plant 
Variety Protection C ommittee . 
CHAPTER  V 
THE CONDITIONS FOR THE  GRANT OF THE  BREEDER’S RIGHT  
Article  10 
At the time of application of new plant  variety  to get the grant of the breeder’s right by 
the plant breeder - 
 (a)The variety shall be deemed to be new if, at the date of fi ling of the ap plication for 
a breeder’s right , has not been sold or otherwise disposed of to others, by or with the consent 6 
 
of the breeder, for purposes of exploitation of the varie ty in the territory of the Republic of 
the Union of Myanmar earlier than on e year before the date of filing of the application and i n  
a territory other than that of the Republic of the Unio n of Myanmar earlier than four years or, 
in the case of trees or of vines, earlier than six years before the said date.  
(b) The propagating o f harvested materials and products of that variety has not been 
sold or otherwise disposed of to.  
Article 11  
The variety shall be deemed to be distinct if it is clearly distinguished from any other 
variety whose existence is a matter of common knowledge at  the time of the filing of 
the application. In particular, the filing of an application for the granting of a breeder’s 
right or for the entering of another variety in an official register of varieties, in any 
country, shall be deemed to render that other variety a matter of common knowledge 
from the date of the application, provided that the application leads to the granting of a 
breeders’ right or to the entering of the said other variety in the official register of 
varieties, as the case may be.  
Article 12 
The variety shall be deemed to be uniform if, subject to the variation that may be 
expected from the particular features of its propagation, it is sufficiently uniform in its 
relevant characteristics.  
Article 13  
The variety shall be deemed to be stable if its relevant characteristics remain unchanged 
after repeated propagation or, in the case of a particular cycle of propagation, at the end 
of each such cycle.  
Article 14  
The breeder’s right shall be granted where the proposed variety for granting of 
breeder’s  right is completed with the  conditions  of denomination  compliance with the 
requirements of the rules and regulation of this Law . 
 
 
CHAPTER  VI 7 
 
APPLICATION OF THE RIGHT  FOR NEW PLANT VARIETY  
Article 1 5 
A person who can apply to grant  the right for new plant variety :  
(a) Any breeder  of National ,  
(b)Any breeder of foreigners who are the permanent residence in the area of The 
Republic of the Union of Myanmar and their organizations , and 
 (c)Any individuals and organization of new plant breeding  from fore ign countries, 
which are both,  enter into an agreement on plant variety protection system.  
Article 16  
The applicant shall apply their new plant variety to get the breeder’s right if it cannot affect 
the natural environment and biodiversity.  
Article 17  
The applicant shall apply  to the National P lant Variety Protection Committee in 
accord ance with the stipulation  of rules and regulations of this Law  for the granting of new 
pant variety protection  
Article 18   
The Central  Committee  assigns to for grow out testing of the  new plant variety . 
 Article 19   
The technical committee tests the candidate  variety in accordance with this Law articles’ 
from 10 to 14 and reports this results to central committee.  
Article 20  
The applicant may request  and shall have  for the p riority right in case  according to the 
enacting of rule and regulation of this Law , a subsequent application form was applied for the 
variety registration to the National New Plant Variety Protection Committee after the first 
application form of the same v ariety has been submitted in a country which and the Republic 
of the Union of Myanmar both enter into an agreement on plant variety protection.  
Article 21 8 
 
 The National New  Plant Variety Protection Committee  can permission and cancellation the 
recognizing  certificate for provisional protection of new pant variety under the following 
conditions:  
(a) After publication of his application, the applicant for variety protection shall have an 
exclusive right to commercially and industrially exploit the variety cl aimed in the 
variety protection application.  
(b) After the publication of the application, where the application falls under any of the 
following items, the right under paragraph (1) shall be deemed never to have arisen:  
(i) where an application has been aband oned, invalidated or withdrawn; and  
(ii)  where the examiner's decision that the application is to be rejected has become 
final and conclusive  
Article 22  
Where a person having the right under paragraph ( a) has exercised the right and the 
application falls under  either of the items (i) or (ii) of paragraph ( b), such person shall be 
liable to indemnify any damage caused to another party by exercising that right.  
CHAPTER  VII 
THE CONDITIONS OF THE BREEDER’S RIGHT AND THE PROTECTION OF 
THE RIGHT  
Article 23  
 Subject t o Articles 28 and 29, the following acts in respect of the propagating material of the 
protected variety shall require the authorization of the breeder:  
 (a) production or reproduction (multiplication)  
 (b) conditioning for the purpose of propagation,  
 (c) offering for sale,  
 (d) selling or other marketing,  
 (e) exporting,  
 (f) importing,  
            (h) stocking for any of the purposes mentioned in (i) to (vi), above.  
Article 24   
The plant breeder can permit the article 23 to a person according to the c oordinating  with the 
central committee .  
 
Article 25  9 
 
Subject to Articles 28 and 29 , the acts referred  to in items ( a) to ( h) of article 23  in respect of 
harvested material, including entire plants and parts of plants, obtained through the 
unauthorized use  of propagating material of the protected variety shall require the 
authorization of the breeder, unless the breeder has had reasonable opportunity to exercise his 
right in relation to the said propagating material.  
Article 26  
Subject to Articles 28 and 29 , the acts referred to in items ( a) to ( h) of article 23  in respect of 
products made directly from harvested material of the protected variety through the 
unauthorized use of the said harvested material shall require the authorization of the breeder, 
unles s the breeder has had reasonable opportunity to exercise his right in relation to the said 
harvested material.  
Article 27  
The provisions of articles 23,  25, 26 shall also apply in relation to the following  
(a) varieties which are essentially derived from the protected variety, where the 
protected variety is not itself an essentially derived variety,  
(b) varieties which are not clearly distinguisha ble in accordance with Article 8  from 
the protected variety and  
(c) varieties whose production requires the re peated use of the protected variety.  
Article 28  
The breeder’s right shall not extend in the following conditions  : 
(a)acts done privately and for non -commercial purposes,  
(b) acts done for experimental purposes and  
(c) exchange of the seeds between farmer s with the amount  not exceed to rules and 
regulations  
(d)acts done for the purpose of breeding other varieties, and, except where the 
provisions of Article 18 (4) apply, acts referred to in Article 18 (1)  to (3)  in respect 
of such other varieties.  
Article 29  
  The breeder’s right shall not extend to acts concerning any material of the protected 
variety, or of a variety covere d by the provisions of Article 23 , which has been sold or 
otherwise marketed by the breeder or with his consent in the territory of the  Republic of the 
Union of Myanmar , or any material derived from the said material, unless such acts  
(a) Involve  further propagation of the variety in question or  
(b) involve and export of material of the variety, which enables the propagation of the  variety, 
into a country which does not protect varieties of the plant genus or species to which the 
variety belongs, except where the exported material is for final consumption purposes.  
Article 29 10 
 
Except where expressly provided in article 28 and 29 of this Law, the free exercise of 
a breeder’s right shall not be restricted for reasons other than of public interest.  
Article 31  
The breeder’s right is independent of any measure to regulate the production, 
certification and marketing of material of varieties  or the importing or exporting of such 
material. In any case, such measures shall not affect the application of the provisions of this 
Law.  
Article 32  
Any measure to regulate the production, certification and marketing of material of 
varieties or the impor ting or exporting of such material is independent of the breeder’s right 
In any case, such measures shall not affect the application of the provisions of this Law.  
Article 33  
The breeder’s right shall be granted for a period of 20 years from the date of th e grant 
of the breeder’s right. For trees and vines, the said period shall be 25 years from the said date.  
CHAPTER VIII 
NULLITY  AND CANCELATION OF THE  BREEDER ’S RIGHT  
Article 34  
 The breeder’s right shall be declared null and void when it is established  as in following 
conditions : 
(a)  that the co nditions laid down  in Articles 10 and 11  were not complied with at the time 
of the grant of the breeder’s right,  
(b)  that, where the grant of the breeder’s right has been essentially based upon 
information and do cuments furnished by the breeder, the conditions laid down in 
Articles 12 and 13  were not complied with at the time of the grant of the breeder’s 
right, or  
(c) that the breeder’s right has been granted to a person who is not entitled to it, unless it 
is transferred to the person who is so entitled.  
Article 35  
No breeder’s right shall be declared null and void for reasons other than those referred to in 
Article 34.  
Article 36  
If the fo llowing conditions are occurred, the Breeder’s Right may be cancelled.  
(a)  The breeder’s r ight may  be cancelled if it is established that the conditions laid down 
in Articles  12 and 13 are no longer fulfilled.  
(b) Furthe rmore, the breeder’s right may  be cancelled if, after being requested to do so 
and within the prescribed peri od. The breeder does not provide the National Plant 11 
 
Variety Protection Committee with the information, documents or material deemed 
necessary for verifying  the maintenance of the variety.  
(c) The breeder fails to pay such fees as may be payable to keep his  right in force . 
Article 37  
 No breeder’s right shall be cancelled for reasons other than t hose referred to in Article 36  
CHAPTER IX  
OFFENCES AND PENALITIES  
Article 38  
(1) Whoever violates any proh ibition contained in Article 23 shall, on conviction, be 
punish ed with imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months  to three years  or 
with fine not exceeding one hundred thousand kyats  to fifty hundred thousand kyats , 
or with both. In addition, the exhibits involved in the offence shall also be confiscated.  
CHAPT ER X 
MISCELLANEOUS  
Article 39  
The punished  under this Law shall be obtained    after the central  committee ’s permission  
Article 40  
 If an exhibit involved in any offence prosecuted under this Law is not easily produceable 
before the Court, such exhibit nee d not be produced before the Court. However, a report or 
other relevant documentary evidence as to the manner of custody of the same may be 
submitted. Such submission shall be deemed as if it were a submission of the exhibit before 
the Court and the releva nt Court may dispose of the same in accord ance with law.  
Article 41  
The members of the National Plant Variety Protection  Commit tee and the Technical Plant 
Variety Protection  Committee who are not Government employees are entitled to obtain 
remuneration de termined by the Ministry.  
Article 42  
The applicant shall give the Schedule of necessary  fees for testing  to get the 
protection of the new plant variety . 12 
 
Article 43  
The central committee provides  the necessary fee to pay by  the plant breeder according to t he 
agreement of the Ministry.  
Article 44  
In implementing the provisions of this Law:  
(a) the Ministry may make rules with the approval of the government and may issue 
procedures, notifications, orders and directives as may be necessary.  
(b) the National Pl ant Variety Protection  Committee and the Technical Plant Variety 
Protection  Committee may issue notifications, orders and directives as may be necessary.  
 
 
 
 Sd/Thein Sein  
 President  
 The Republic of the Union of Myanmar