FARM SAVED SEED IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC Ing. Vojtech Dukát 2008

 Legislation (Act. No. 408/2000 Coll., on the protection of plant variety rights  System for collection of information and remunerations for use of Farm saved seed (FSS)  Variety owner’s cooperative (DVO)  Strenghts and weaknesses of the Czech FSS system  Statistics TOPICS

LEGISLATION Rights to the plant varieties in the Czech Republic were initially governed by Act No. 408/ 2000 Coll., on protection of plant variety rights. The Act is based on the Council Directive No / 94 On the variety rights in the EEC. The Act is specified: the conditions and requirements for conferring the rights to the varieties proceedings concerning the protective rights, their scope imposing the penalties for violation of or failure to obey the duties set out by the same Act. The Act conferred an exclusive right on the holders of the breeders rights to the protected variety to exploit the propagating material of such variety in the following ways - production, propagation, processing, sale etc.

LEGISLATION Basic principles of use FSS from the legislation:  The farmer is authorised without the prior consent of the breeders right holder to utilize the legally protected variety of his own harvest  This reproductiv material may be used exclusively for his own need  Such propagating material should come from certified material  The farmer is not limited in quantity with the scope of utilization of FSS and the number of repeated reproduction with only exception potato, where is allowed only one generation from growing the certified propagating material

LEGISLATION Plant Species List, where FSS is allowed a)Cereals: Oat, Barley, Rye, Triticale, Wheat (common, durum, spelt) b)Fodder plants: Yellow lupine, Lucerne, Field pea, Alexandrian a Persian clover, Field bean,Common vetch c)Potato d)Oil and fibre plants: Swede rape, Turnip rape, Linseed ( except flax)

LEGISLATION  Upon request of the breeder, the farmers are obliged to give the information: scope of application od FSS (name of variety, ha) scope of application certified seed for variety concerned registration number, adress by whom was FSS processed (registration number, adress)  The farmer is obliged to pay for the utilization of the protected variety at 50% of the usual price of the certified propagating material within 6 month of the effective date of such obligation

LEGISLATION The obligation to pay the remuneration does not apply to small farmers (farmer who grows plants on arable land with an area not exceeding 22 hectares Upon the request the breeder is obliged to inform the farmer about the price of licence of certified seed The breeders are entitled to require information from the state authorities concerning the production, processing or utilization of FSS The processor is obliged to inform the breeder, upon their request, about the quantities of FSS supplied to the processing (plant species, variety, quantity and for whom the procesing was carried out) The processsor who is to process the seeds of protected varietes must inform the state authority – Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture about such activity in advance. The List of Processors is published on an annual basis in the Journal

LEGISLATION Upon written request of the breeder, the farmers and the processors are obliged supply a document which confirms the information disclosed by the latter concerning FSS The act governess the cases where the farmer and the processor commits an administrative tort. The administrative tort may be penalized by the administrative action up to an amount of CZK The Act vest the power to the administrative action to the state authority Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture

FSS system in the Czech Republic Twice a year, all the farmers who grow plants on arable land with an area above 22 hectares are sent a questionnaire to indicate all the information concerning the utilization of Farm saved seed: - as of in the year of winter crops - as of in the year of spring crops The questionnaire also includes: - list of protected varieties for wich the cooperative is authorised to colect the remunerations - price list - copy of autorization granted by the breeders

FSS system in the Czech Republic The Cooperative draws up a list of varieties on the basis of the written authorisation granted yearly by the breeders. The amount of remuneration is determined per one hectare of area under crops The farmers may return the filled in questionnaire to the DVO by: mail or e – mail or fax or phone in the case of annouce the non – utilization of Farm saved seed in the report period If FSS are used, the farmer should remit the calculated remuneration to the DVO bank account. DVO database holds farmers

FSS system in the Czech Republic The state authorities are not involved in the collection of information and remuneration for utilization of FSS DVO has only taken legal actions again the farmers, who did not accept to or fail to pay remunerations neither breeders right holders nor DVO have not any agreement regarding FSS with the farmers organizations

FSS system in the Czech Republic Twice a year DVO distributes among all the processors questionnaire for disclosure of necessary information regarding FSS processing The information disclosed by the processors is needed for verification the truth of data provided by the farmers DVO database holds 350 processors

FSS system in the Czech Republic DVO has a system for random inspections of the authenticity of data disclosed by the farmers: –verification by the mail -250 farmers mainly natural persons –verification directly in the farms – 300 farmer mainly legal persons – big farms

FSS system in the Czech Republic The Cooperative shall inform the breeder’s right holders at regular intervals stipulated in the contract about the amounts of remuneration collected in the relevant period The Cooperative shall also transmit all remuneration collected to the relevant breeder’s right holder. The Cooperative charges its members and contractors for such activity based on the amount of remuneration actually collected. The entire system for collection and registration of information, statistic and invoices is processed electronically

Variety Owner’s Cooperative The Variety Owners’ cooperative was established in December 2001 by the holders of the breeding rights - for the plant varietes developed by the Czech companies and by the authorised representatives – for the foreign varieties. The reason for establishment of the Cooperative was to form a joint organisation which would have collected information and remunerations for the use of Farm saved seed. The Cooperative is an association of legal and natural person representing the owners and representatives of the plant varieties The Cooperative’s activity is managed by a five member board.

Variety Owner’s Cooperative According to the Cooperative’s memorandum, the board is elected to comprise at least 3 representatives of the breeding companies which are engaged in breeding new varieties. At present, the Cooperative has four full – time employees, 31 members and four contractors. With certain exceptions, the Cooperative associates all holders of the breeder’s rights or their representatives in the Czech Republic covering the varieties of species where the utilization of Farm saved seed is permitted.

Variety Owner’s Cooperative Apart from the issues concerning Farm saved seed, the Variety Owners Cooperative is authorised and appointed to: - represent and defend the interest of the breeders’ right holders based on the legal protection of plants -the Cooperative offers its members a service of collecting the licence fees of certified seeds Address:Družstvo vlastníků odrůd Jihlavská Troubsko Czech Republic Phone: E- mail

Strenghts and weaknesses of the Czech FSS system STRENGHTS Almost all owners of plant breeders rights or their representatives are the members of DVO Direct contact between the breeders and farmers Mutual understanding in the role of breeding and necessity of remuneration Good national legislation Good cooperation with official authority Central Institute for Supervisiting and Testing in Agriculture WEAKNESSES Incomplete database of the farmers Complet lack of understanding from Ministry of Agriculture in the case of database Very high mail expenses

STATISTICS General information about the Czech agriculture Average area on the farm (ha) Number of the farmersTotal area (ha) 0 –10 ha –100 ha – 500 ha – 1000 ha a more Total From that amount: ha of arable land – 73.4 % The number of the farmers in DVO database – : legal persons natural persons

STATISTICS