The General Office of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs ("MARA") has recently issued the Opinions on the Application of Relevant Articles of the Seed Law (the "Opinions").
The Opinions provide clarity on eight issues, including "whether pollen is covered by seed issues specified in the Seed Law" and "how to calculate the value of shoddy seeds ferreted out from seed production bases". Among others, the Opinions state that, four types of actions, including "marketing and selling the varieties of main crops that have not been examined and approved at the national or provincial level", will be considered "marketing and selling crop varieties that should be but have not been examined and approved". In addition, the Opinions expressly state that, pursuant to Article 41 and Item 11 under the Paragraph 2 of Article 92, of the Seed Law, if a strip of cloth that clearly indicates names of the varieties, places of production and time of production, is fixed to the exterior package of a seed product, it shall be deemed that the seed is indeed affixed with a label, the content of which, however, does not comply with applicable rules, and thus such practice shall be punished according to Item 2 under Article 80 of the Seed Law.