103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1406

AN ACT

To amend the Plant Variety Protection Act to

States is a signatory, and for other purposes.Plants of March 19, 1991, to which the UnitedConvention for the Protection of New Varieties ofmake such Act consistent with the International
103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1406

AN ACT

To amend the Plant Variety Protection Act to make such

Act consistent with the International Convention for the

Protection of New Varieties of Plants of March 19, 1991,

to which the United States is a signatory, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘Plant Variety Protection Act Amendments of 1994’’.
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1 (b) REFERENCES TO PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION

2 ACT.—Except as otherwise expressly provided, whenever

3 in this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms

4 of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi5 sion, the reference shall be considered to be made to a

6 section or other provision of the Plant Variety Protection

7 Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et seq.).

8 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS AND RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

9 Section 41 (7 U.S.C. 2401) is amended to read as

10 follows:

11 ‘‘SEC. 41. DEFINITIONS AND RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.

12 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act:

13 ‘‘(1) BASIC SEED.—The term ‘basic seed’

14 means the seed planted to produce certified or com15 mercial seed.

16 ‘‘(2) BREEDER.—The term ‘breeder’ means the

17 person who directs the final breeding creating a vari18 ety or who discovers and develops a variety. If the

19 actions are conducted by an agent on behalf of a

20 principal, the principal, rather than the agent, shall

21 be considered the breeder. The term does not include

22 a person who redevelops or rediscovers a variety the

23 existence of which is publicly known or a matter of

24 common knowledge.

25 ‘‘(3) ESSENTIALLY DERIVED VARIETY.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘essentially

2 derived variety’ means a variety that—

3 ‘‘(i) is predominantly derived from an4 other variety (referred to in this paragraph

5 as the ‘initial variety’) or from a variety

6 that is predominantly derived from the ini7 tial variety, while retaining the expression

8 of the essential characteristics that result

9 from the genotype or combination of

10 genotypes of the initial variety;

11 ‘‘(ii) is clearly distinguishable from

12 the initial variety; and

13 ‘‘(iii) except for differences that result

14 from the act of derivation, conforms to the

15 initial variety in the expression of the es16 sential characteristics that result from the

17 genotype or combination of genotypes of

18 the initial variety.

19 ‘‘(B) METHODS.—An essentially derived

20 variety may be obtained by the selection of a

21 natural or induced mutant or of a somaclonal

22 variant, the selection of a variant individual

23 from plants of the initial variety, backcrossing,

24 transformation by genetic engineering, or other

25 method.
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1 ‘‘(4) KIND.—The term ‘kind’ means one or

2 more related species or subspecies singly or collec3 tively known by one common name, such as soybean,

4 flax, or radish.

5 ‘‘(5) SEED.—The term ‘seed’, with respect to a

6 tuber propagated variety, means the tuber or the

7 part of the tuber used for propagation.

8 ‘‘(6) SEXUALLY REPRODUCED.—The term ‘sex9 ually reproduced’ includes any production of a vari10 ety by seed, but does not include the production of

11 a variety by tuber propagation.

12 ‘‘(7) TUBER PROPAGATED.—The term ‘tuber

13 propagated’ means propagated by a tuber or a part

14 of a tuber.

15 ‘‘(8) UNITED STATES.—The terms ‘United

16 States’ and ‘this country’ mean the United States,

17 territories and possessions of the United States, and

18 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

19 ‘‘(9) VARIETY.—The term ‘variety’ means a

20 plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the

21 lowest known rank, that, without regard to whether

22 the conditions for plant variety protection are fully

23 met, can be defined by the expression of the charac24 teristics resulting from a given genotype or combina25 tion of genotypes, distinguished from any other
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1 plant grouping by the expression of at least one

2 characteristic and considered as a unit with regard

3 to the suitability of the plant grouping for being

4 propagated unchanged. A variety may be rep5 resented by seed, transplants, plants, tubers, tissue

6 culture plantlets, and other matter.

7 ‘‘(b) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—For the purposes

8 of this Act:

9 ‘‘(1) SALE OR DISPOSITION FOR

10 NONREPRODUCTIVE PURPOSES.—The sale or disposi11 tion, for other than reproductive purposes, of har12 vested material produced as a result of experimen13 tation or testing of a variety to ascertain the charac14 teristics of the variety, or as a by-product of increas15 ing a variety, shall not be considered to be a sale or

16 disposition for purposes of exploitation of the

17 variety.

18 ‘‘(2) SALE OR DISPOSITION FOR REPRODUCTIVE

19 PURPOSES.—The sale or disposition of a variety for

20 reproductive purposes shall not be considered to be

21 a sale or disposition for the purposes of exploitation

22 of the variety if the sale or disposition is done as an

23 integral part of a program of experimentation or

24 testing to ascertain the characteristics of the variety,
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1 or to increase the variety on behalf of the breeder

2 or the successor in interest of the breeder.

3 ‘‘(3) SALE OR DISPOSITION OF HYBRID SEED.—

4 The sale or disposition of hybrid seed shall be con5 sidered to be a sale or disposition of harvested mate6 rial of the varieties from which the seed was pro7 duced.

8 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION FOR PROTECTION OR EN9 TERING INTO A REGISTER OF VARIETIES.—The fil10 ing of an application for the protection or for the en11 tering of a variety in an official register of varieties,

12 in any country, shall be considered to render the va13 riety a matter of common knowledge from the date

14 of the application, if the application leads to the

15 granting of protection or to the entering of the vari16 ety in the official register of varieties, as the case

17 may be.

18 ‘‘(5) DISTINCTNESS.—The distinctness of one

19 variety from another may be based on one or more

20 identifiable morphological, physiological, or other

21 characteristics (including any characteristics evi22 denced by processing or product characteristics, such

23 as milling and baking characteristics in the case of

24 wheat) with respect to which a difference in geneal25 ogy may contribute evidence.
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1 ‘‘(6) PUBLICLY KNOWN VARIETIES.—

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A variety that is ade3 quately described by a publication reasonably

4 considered to be a part of the public technical

5 knowledge in the United States shall be consid6 ered to be publicly known and a matter of com7 mon knowledge.

8 ‘‘(B) DESCRIPTION.—A description that

9 meets the requirements of subparagraph (A)

10 shall include a disclosure of the principal char11 acteristics by which a variety is distinguished.

12 ‘‘(C) OTHER MEANS.—A variety may be13 come publicly known and a matter of common

14 knowledge by other means.’’.

15 SEC. 3. RIGHT TO PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION; PLANT

16 VARIETIES PROTECTABLE.

17 Section 42 (7 U.S.C. 2402) is amended to read as

18 follows:

19 ‘‘SEC. 42. RIGHT TO PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION; PLANT

20 VARIETIES PROTECTABLE.

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The breeder of any sexually re22 produced or tuber propagated plant variety (other than

23 fungi or bacteria) who has so reproduced the variety, or

24 the successor in interest of the breeder, shall be entitled
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1 to plant variety protection for the variety, subject to the

2 conditions and requirements of this Act, if the variety is—

3 ‘‘(1) new, in the sense that, on the date of filing

4 of the application for plant variety protection, propa5 gating or harvested material of the variety has not

6 been sold or otherwise disposed of to other persons,

7 by or with the consent of the breeder, or the succes8 sor in interest of the breeder, for purposes of exploi9 tation of the variety—

10 ‘‘(A) in the United States, more than 1

11 year prior to the date of filing; or

12 ‘‘(B) in any area outside of the United

13 States—

14 ‘‘(i) more than 4 years prior to the

15 date of filing; or

16 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a tree or vine,

17 more than 6 years prior to the date of

18 filing;

19 ‘‘(2) distinct, in the sense that the variety is

20 clearly distinguishable from any other variety the ex21 istence of which is publicly known or a matter of

22 common knowledge at the time of the filing of the

23 application;
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1 ‘‘(3) uniform, in the sense that any variations

2 are describable, predictable, and commercially ac3 ceptable; and

4 ‘‘(4) stable, in the sense that the variety, when

5 reproduced, will remain unchanged with regard to

6 the essential and distinctive characteristics of the va7 riety with a reasonable degree of reliability commen8 surate with that of varieties of the same category in

9 which the same breeding method is employed.

10 ‘‘(b) MULTIPLE APPLICANTS.—

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If 2 or more applicants

12 submit applications on the same effective filing date

13 for varieties that cannot be clearly distinguished

14 from one another, but that fulfill all other require15 ments of subsection (a), the applicant who first com16 plies with all requirements of this Act shall be enti17 tled to a certificate of plant variety protection, to the

18 exclusion of any other applicant.

19 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS COMPLETED ON SAME

20 DATE.—

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in

22 subparagraph (B), if 2 or more applicants com23 ply with all requirements for protection on the

24 same date, a certificate shall be issued for each

25 variety.
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1 ‘‘(B) VARIETIES INDISTINGUISHABLE.—If

2 the varieties that are the subject of the applica3 tions cannot be distinguished in any manner, a

4 single certificate shall be issued jointly to the

5 applicants.’’.

6 SEC. 4. APPLICATIONS.

7 Section 52 (7 U.S.C. 2422) is amended—

8 (1) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end the

9 following new sentence: ‘‘The variety shall be named

10 in accordance with regulations issued by the

11 Secretary.’’;

12 (2) in the first sentence of paragraph (2), by

13 striking ‘‘novelty’’ and inserting ‘‘distinctiveness,

14 uniformity, and stability’’;

15 (3) by redesignating paragraphs (3) and (4) as

16 paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively;

17 (4) by inserting after paragraph (2) the follow18 ing new paragraph:

19 ‘‘(3) A statement of the basis of the claim of

20 the applicant that the variety is new.’’; and

21 (5) in paragraph (4) (as redesignated by para22 graph (3)), by inserting ‘‘(including any propagating

23 material)’’ after ‘‘basic seed’’.

24 SEC. 5. BENEFIT OF EARLIER FILING DATE.

25 Section 55(a) (7 U.S.C. 2425(a)) is amended—
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1 (1) by redesignating the first and second sen2 tences as paragraphs (1) and (2), respectively;

3 (2) in paragraph (1) (as so designated), by in4 serting before the period at the end the following: ‘‘,

5 not including the date on which the application is

6 filed in the foreign country’’; and

7 (3) by adding at the end the following new

8 paragraph:

9 ‘‘(3)(A) An applicant entitled to a right of priority

10 under this subsection shall be allowed to furnish any nec11 essary information, document, or material required for the

12 purpose of the examination of the application during—

13 ‘‘(i) the 2-year period beginning on the date of

14 the expiration of the period of priority ; or

15 ‘‘(ii) if the first application is rejected or with16 drawn, an appropriate period after the rejection or

17 withdrawal, to be determined by the Secretary.

18 ‘‘(B) An event occurring within the period of priority

19 (such as the filing of another application or use of the

20 variety that is the subject of the first application) shall

21 not constitute a ground for rejecting the application or

22 give rise to any third party right.’’.

23 SEC. 6. NOTICE OF REFUSAL; RECONSIDERATION.

24 The first sentence of section 62(b) (7 U.S.C.

25 2442(b)) is amended—
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1 (1) by striking ‘‘six months’’ and inserting ‘‘at

2 least 30 days, and not more than 180 days’’; and

3 (2) by striking ‘‘in exceptional circumstances’’.

4 SEC. 7. CONTENTS AND TERM OF PLANT VARIETY PROTEC5 TION.

6 Section 83 (7 U.S.C. 2483) is amended—

7 (1) in subsection (a)—

8 (A) by designating the first through fourth

9 sentences as paragraphs (1) through (4), re10 spectively; and

11 (B) by striking paragraphs (2) and (3) (as

12 so designated) and inserting the following new

13 paragraphs:

14 ‘‘(2) If the owner so elects, the certificate shall—

15 ‘‘(A) specify that seed of the variety shall be

16 sold in the United States only as a class of certified

17 seed; and

18 ‘‘(B) if so specified, conform to the number of

19 generations designated by the owner.

20 ‘‘(3) An owner may waive a right provided under this

21 subsection, other than a right that is elected by the owner

22 under paragraph (2)(A).’’;

23 (2) in the first sentence of subsection (b)—

24 (A) by striking ‘‘eighteen’’ and inserting

25 ‘‘20’’; and
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1 (B) by inserting before the period at the

2 end the following: ‘‘, except that, in the case of

3 a tree or vine, the term of the plant variety pro4 tection shall expire 25 years from the date of

5 issue of the certificate’’; and

6 (3) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘repository:

7 Provided, however, That’’ and inserting ‘‘repository,

8 or requiring the submission of a different name for

9 the variety, except that’’.

10 SEC. 8. PRIORITY CONTEST.

11 (a) PRIORITY CONTEST; EFFECT OF ADVERSE FINAL

12 JUDGMENT OR INACTION.—Sections 92 and 93 (7 U.S.C.

13 2502 and 2503) are repealed.

14 (b) INTERFERING PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION.—

15 (1) REDESIGNATION.—Chapter 9 of title II (7

16 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.) is amended by redesignating

17 section 94 (7 U.S.C. 2504) as section 92.

18 (2) AMENDMENTS.—Section 92 (as so redesig19 nated) is amended—

20 (A) by striking ‘‘The owner’’ and inserting

21 ‘‘(a) The owner’’; and

22 (B) by striking the second sentence.

23 (c) APPEAL OR CIVIL ACTION IN CONTESTED

24 CASES.—
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1 (1) TRANSFER.—Section 73 (7 U.S.C. 2463) is

2 amended by transferring subsection (b) to the end

3 of section 92 (as redesignated by subsection (b)(1)).

4 (2) REPEAL.—Section 73 (as amended by para5 graph (1)) is repealed.

6 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—

7 (1) Section 71 (7 U.S.C. 2461) is amended by

8 striking ‘‘92,’’.

9 (2) Section 102 (7 U.S.C. 2532) is amended by

10 inserting ‘‘or tuber propagable’’ after ‘‘sexually re11 producible’’ each place it appears.

12 SEC. 9. PROMPT PAYMENT.

13 Chapter 9 of title II (7 U.S.C. 2501 et seq.) (as

14 amended by section 8) is further amended by adding at

15 the end the following new section:

16 ‘‘SEC. 93. PROMPT PAYMENT.

17 ‘‘If a seed grower contracts with the holder of a cer18 tificate of plant variety protection issued under this Act,

19 or a licensee of the holder, to produce lawn, turf, or forage

20 grass seed, alfalfa, or clover seed, protected under this

21 Act, payments due the grower under the contract shall be

22 completed not later than the earlier of—

23 ‘‘(1) 30 days after the contract payment date;

24 or
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1 ‘‘(2) May 1 of the year following the production

2 of the seed.’’.

3 SEC. 10. INFRINGEMENT OF PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION.

4 Section 111 (7 U.S.C. 2541) is amended—

5 (1) in subsection (a)—

6 (A) by striking ‘‘novel’’ the first two places

7 it appears and inserting ‘‘protected’’;

8 (B) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘the

9 novel’’ and inserting ‘‘or market the protected’’;

10 (C) by striking ‘‘novel’’ each place it ap11 pears in paragraphs (2) through (7);

12 (D) in paragraph (3), by inserting ‘‘, or

13 propagate by a tuber or a part of a tuber,’’

14 after ‘‘sexually multiply’’;

15 (E) by striking ‘‘or’’ each place it appears

16 at the end of paragraphs (3) through (6);

17 (F) by redesignating paragraphs (7) and

18 (8) as paragraphs (9) and (10), respectively;

19 and

20 (G) by inserting after paragraph (6) the

21 following new paragraphs:

22 ‘‘(7) condition the variety for the purpose of

23 propagation, except to the extent that the condi24 tioning is related to the activities permitted under

25 section 113;
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1 ‘‘(8) stock the variety for any of the purposes

2 referred to in paragraphs (1) through (7);’’;

3 (2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub4 section (f); and

5 (3) by inserting after subsection (a) the follow6 ing new subsections:

7 ‘‘(b) The owner of a protected variety may authorize

8 the use of the variety under this section subject to condi9 tions and limitations specified by the owner.

10 ‘‘(c) This section shall apply equally to—

11 ‘‘(1) any variety that is essentially derived from

12 a protected variety, unless the protected variety is

13 an essentially derived variety;

14 ‘‘(2) any variety that is not clearly distinguish15 able from a protected variety;

16 ‘‘(3) any variety whose production requires the

17 repeated use of a protected variety; and

18 ‘‘(4) harvested material (including entire plants

19 and parts of plants) obtained through the unauthor20 ized use of propagating material of a protected vari21 ety, unless the owner of the variety has had a rea22 sonable opportunity to exercise the rights provided

23 by this Act with respect to the propagating material.

24 ‘‘(d) It shall not be an infringement of the rights of

25 the owner of a variety to perform any act concerning prop-
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1 agating material of any kind, or harvested material, in2 cluding entire plants and parts of plants, of a protected

3 variety that has been sold or otherwise marketed with the

4 consent of the owner in the United States, unless the act

5 involves further propagation of the variety or involves an

6 export of material of the variety, that enables the propaga7 tion of the variety, into a country that does not protect

8 varieties of the plant genus or species to which the variety

9 belongs, unless the exported material is for final consump10 tion purposes.

11 ‘‘(e) It shall not be an infringement of the rights of

12 the owner of a variety to perform any act done privately

13 and for noncommercial purposes.’’.

14 SEC. 11. RIGHT TO SAVE SEED; CROP EXEMPTION.

15 The first sentence of section 113 (7 U.S.C. 2543) is

16 amended by striking ‘‘section: Provided, That’’ and all

17 that follows through the period and inserting ‘‘section.’’.

18 SEC. 12. LIMITATION OF DAMAGES; MARKING AND NOTICE.

19 Section 127 (7 U.S.C. 2567) is amended by striking

20 ‘‘novel’’ each place it appears.

21 SEC. 13. OBLIGATION TO USE VARIETY NAME.

22 Section 128(a) (7 U.S.C. 2568(a)) is amended—

23 (1) by inserting ‘‘or tubers or parts of tubers’’

24 after ‘‘plant material’’; and
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1 (2) by adding at the end the following new

2 paragraph:

3 ‘‘(4) Failure to use the name of a variety for

4 which a certificate of protection has been issued

5 under this Act, even after the expiration of the

6 certificate, except that lawn, turf, or forage grass

7 seed, alfalfa, or clover seed may be sold without a

8 variety name unless use of the name of a variety for

9 which a certificate of protection has been issued

10 under this Act is required under State law.’’.

11 SEC. 14. ELIMINATION OF GENDER-BASED REFERENCES.

12 (a) The last sentence of section 7(a) (7 U.S.C.

13 2327(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘his designee shall act

14 as chairman’’ and inserting ‘‘the designee of the Secretary

15 shall act as chairperson’’.

16 (b) Section 10(a) (7 U.S.C. 2330(a)) is amended by

17 striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the Secretary’’.

18 (c) Section 23 (7 U.S.C. 2353) is amended—

19 (1) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘he’’ and

20 inserting ‘‘the officer’’; and

21 (3) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘he’’ and

22 inserting ‘‘the person’’.

23 (d) Section 24 (7 U.S.C. 2354) is amended—

24 (1) in the first sentence of subsection (a), by

25 striking ‘‘him’’ and inserting ‘‘the witness’’; and
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1 (2) in the second sentence of subsection (c)—

2 (A) by striking ‘‘his fees and traveling ex3 penses’’ and inserting ‘‘the fees and traveling

4 expenses of the witness’’; and

5 (B) by striking ‘‘him’’ and inserting ‘‘the

6 witness’’.

7 (e) The last sentence of section 27 (7 U.S.C. 2357)

8 is amended by striking ‘‘he’’ each place it appears ’’ and

9 inserting ‘‘the person’’.

10 (f) The first sentence of section 44 (7 U.S.C. 2404)

11 is amended by striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the Sec12 retary’’.

13 (g) Section 53 (7 U.S.C. 2423) is amended—

14 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘one (or his

15 successor)’’ and inserting ‘‘one person (or the suc16 cessor of the person)’’; and

17 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘he’’ and in18 serting ‘‘the Secretary’’.

19 (h) Section 54 (7 U.S.C. 2424) is amended by strik20 ing ‘‘his successor in interest’’ and inserting ‘‘the succes21 sor in interest of the breeder’’.

22 (i) Section 55 (7 U.S.C. 2425) is amended—

23 (1) in subsection (a)(2) (as redesignated by sec24 tion 5(1)), by striking ‘‘his application’’ and insert25 ing ‘‘the application filed in the United States’’; and
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1 (2) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘his prede2 cessor in title’’ and inserting ‘‘the predecessor in

3 title of the person’’.

4 (j) The first sentence of section 62(b) (7 U.S.C.

5 2442(b)) is amended—

6 (1) by striking ‘‘him’’ and inserting ‘‘an appli7 cant’’;

8 (2) by striking ‘‘an applicant shall’’ and insert9 ing ‘‘the applicant shall’’; and

10 (3) by striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the Sec11 retary’’.

12 (k) The second sentence of section 72 (7 U.S.C.

13 2462) is amended by striking ‘‘his variety as specified in

14 his application’’ and inserting ‘‘the variety as specified in

15 the application’’.

16 (l) Section 82 (7 U.S.C. 2482) is amended by striking

17 ‘‘his signature’’ and inserting ‘‘the signature of the Sec18 retary’’.

19 (m) Section 83 (7 U.S.C. 2483) is amended—

20 (1) in subsection (a) (as amended by section

21 7(1)(A))—

22 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(or his

23 successor in interest)’’ and inserting ‘‘(or the

24 successor in interest of the breeder)’’; and
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1 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘his dis2 cretion’’ and inserting ‘‘the discretion of the

3 Secretary’’; and

4 (2) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘he’’ and in5 serting ‘‘the last owner’’.

6 (n) Section 86 (7 U.S.C. 2486) is amended—

7 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘him’’ and

8 inserting ‘‘the Secretary’’; and

9 (2) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘he’’ and

10 inserting ‘‘the person’’.

11 (o) Section 91(c) (7 U.S.C. 2501(c)) is amended by

12 striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the Secretary’’.

13 (p) The fourth sentence of section 92(b) (as trans14 ferred by section 8(c)(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘he’’ and

15 inserting ‘‘the Secretary’’.

16 (q) The first sentence of section 111(f) (as redesig17 nated by section 9(2)) is amended by striking ‘‘his official

18 capacity’’ and inserting ‘‘the official capacity of the officer

19 or employee’’.

20 (r) Section 112 (7 U.S.C. 2542) is amended by strik21 ing ‘‘his successor in interest’’ and inserting ‘‘the succes22 sor in interest of the person’’.

23 (s) Section 113 (7 U.S.C. 2543) is amended—

24 (1) in the first sentence—
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1 (A) by striking ‘‘him’’ and inserting ‘‘the

2 person’’; and

3 (B) by striking ‘‘his farm’’ and inserting

4 ‘‘the farm of the person’’; and

5 (2) in the third sentence, by striking ‘‘his ac6 tions’’ and inserting ‘‘the actions of the purchaser’’.

7 (t) Section 121 (7 U.S.C. 2561) is amended by strik8 ing ‘‘his’’.

9 (u) Section 126(b) (7 U.S.C. 2566(b)) is amended

10 by striking ‘‘his’’ and inserting ‘‘the’’.

11 (v) Section 128(a) (7 U.S.C. 2568(a)) is amended by

12 striking ‘‘he’’ and inserting ‘‘the Secretary’’.

13 (w) Section 130(a) (7 U.S.C. 2570(a)) is amended

14 by striking ‘‘his official capacity’’ and inserting ‘‘the offi15 cial capacity of the officer or employee’’.

16 SEC. 15. TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in this section,

18 any variety for which a certificate of plant variety protec19 tion has been issued prior to the effective date of this Act,

20 and any variety for which an application is pending on

21 the effective date of this Act, shall continue to be governed

22 by the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et

23 seq.), as in effect on the day before the effective date of

24 this Act.

25 (b) APPLICATIONS REFILED.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—An applicant may refile a

2 pending application on or after the effective date of

3 this Act.

4 (2) EFFECT OF REFILING.—If a pending appli5 cation is refiled on or after the effective date of this

6 Act—

7 (A) eligibility for protection and the terms

8 of protection shall be governed by the Plant Va9 riety Protection Act, as amended by this Act;

10 and

11 (B) for purposes of section 42 of the Plant

12 Variety Protection Act, as amended by section

13 3 of this Act, the date of filing shall be the date

14 of filing of the original application.

15 (c) LABELING.—

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—To obtain the protection

17 provided to an owner of a protected variety under

18 the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2321 et

19 seq.) (as amended by this Act), a notice given by an

20 owner concerning the variety under section 127 of

21 the Plant Variety Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2567)

22 shall state that the variety is protected under such

23 Act (as amended by this Act).

24 (2) SANCTIONS.—Any person that makes a

25 false or misleading statement or claim, or uses a
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1 false or misleading label, concerning protection de2 scribed in paragraph (1) shall be subject to the sanc3 tions described in section 128 of the Plant Variety

4 Protection Act (7 U.S.C. 2568).

5 SEC. 16. EFFECTIVE DATE.

6 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall

7 become effective 180 days after the date of enactment of

8 this Act.

Passed the Senate May 25 (legislative day, May 16),

1994.

Attest:

Secretary.
25

•S 1406 ES

S 1406 ES——2

S 1406 ES——3