I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4693 
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. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2004 
Ms. KAPTUR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Agriculture, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and 
Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To require persons who seek to retain seed harvested from 
the planting of patented seeds to register with the Sec-
retary of Agriculture and pay fees set by the Secretary 
for retaining such seed, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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 no-
tice, 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 ap-
propriate; 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 estab-
lish 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 re-
fund 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 ap-
propriate.
(d) DISTRIBUTIONS.—The Secretary of Agriculture 
shall pay the collected fees to the appropriate patent hold-
ers, at a frequency that the Secretary determines is appro-
priate, 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 ad-
ministered 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 limi-
tation 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 dif-
ference 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 accord-
ance with section 2(d). 
(c) DEFINITION.—In this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘genetically modified seed’’ means 
any seed that contains a genetically modified mate-
rial, was produced with a genetically modified mate-
rial, 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 molec-
ular or cellular level by means that are not possible 
under natural conditions or processes (including re-
combinant DNA and RNA techniques, cell fusion, 
microencapsulation, macroencapsulation, gene dele-
tion and doubling, introducing a foreign gene, and 
changing the positions of genes), other than a means 
consisting exclusively of breeding, conjugation, fer-
mentation, hybridization, in vitro fertilization, tissue 
culture, or mutagenesis. 
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