The crime of infringing on the right of new plant varieties should be punished in order to crack down on the infringement of license.

● adds an article in Section 7 of Chapter 3 of the Criminal Law: "whoever produces or sells protected varieties without the permission of the variety owner shall, if the circumstances are serious, be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and concurrently or independently be sentenced to a fine; if the circumstances are especially serious, the offender shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than seven years, and concurrently be sentenced to a fine."

The Supreme people's Court of ● has made a judicial explanation on the illegal operation of seeds, including the illegal acts of producing (operating) seeds without a license or failing to comply with the requirements of the production (operation) license, or producing and operating protected varieties without authorization, causing serious social harm, or seriously disturbing the market order.

Variety innovation is the core of the development of seed industry, and the protection of the rights and interests of variety owners is the fundamental guarantee to promote variety innovation. At present, the protection of variety rights is only based on the seed Law and the regulations on the Protection of New Plant varieties, and the infringement is limited to administrative penalties. Due to the lighter punishment, license infringement has become more and more rampant in recent years, seriously disrupting the order of the seed market and dampening the enthusiasm of breed owners to innovate. " At the third session of the current National people's Congress, Li Denghai, deputy to the National people's Congress and honorary chairman of Shandong Denghai seed Industry Co., Ltd., submitted a motion on adding "the crime of infringing upon new plant varieties" in the Criminal Law. It is suggested that the National people's Congress amend the Criminal Law to include the infringement of variety rights as the crime of infringing intellectual property rights.

"the key to narrowing the gap between China's seed industry and foreign seed industry is to stimulate the innovative vitality of the seed industry and improve the ability of variety innovation." Li Denghai said: it often takes 5 to 10 years for breeders or seed enterprises to cultivate a good variety or obtain an excellent inbred line, with an investment of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yuan, while card infringers can enjoy their success without cost or profit. The seeds of the Denghai series corn varieties of Shandong Denghai seed Industry Co., Ltd. are infringed up to more than 5 million kilograms every year, resulting in a loss of more than 100 million yuan. "if this problem is not solved for a long time, it will seriously affect the competitiveness of China's seed industry and national food security."

In recent years, the agricultural sector has continuously strengthened market supervision to curb illegal acts such as license plate infringement to a certain extent, but at present, cracking down on illegal acts such as license plate infringement can only be based on the "seed Law" and "regulations." because the intensity of administrative punishment is weak, it is difficult to deter lawbreakers. "in the crime of infringing intellectual property rights in Section 7 of Chapter III of the Criminal Law, corresponding charges are stipulated for violations of trademark rights, patent rights, copyrights and trade secrets, and the right of new plant varieties belongs to the category of intellectual property rights. It should be given the same respect and protection as other intellectual achievements." Li Denghai thinks.

In order to protect the rights and interests of the variety owner in the seed industry, Li Denghai suggested that when revising the Criminal Law, the National people's Congress should add an article to Section 7 of Chapter 3: "whoever produces or sells protected varieties without the permission of the variety owner, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or public surveillance, and concurrently or independently be sentenced to a fine; if the circumstances are especially serious, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than seven years, and concurrently be sentenced to a fine."

At the same time, he suggested that the Supreme people's Court should make a judicial explanation on the illegal operation of seeds. "in order to evade supervision, most lawbreakers who engage in license infringement do not apply for production permits or sign seed production contracts with farmers, wholesale to temporary agricultural capital markets or direct sales to villages and households, and it is very difficult for agricultural administrative departments to trace their roots and obtain complete evidence." Li Denghai said: article 225 of the Criminal Law stipulates the crime of illegal business operation and its punishment.Unlicensed production and operation of seeds or unauthorized production and operation of protected varieties belong to the category of illegal business operations.However, because there is no specific judicial interpretation, the public security departments are unwilling to intervene in investigating and handling relevant cases, and the court does not impose criminal penalties on such illegal acts. "illegal acts that cause serious social harm or seriously disrupt market order should be included in the crime of illegal business operation as soon as possible, such as producing (operating) seeds without a license or failing to comply with the requirements of the production (operation) license, or without authorization to produce and operate protected varieties of seeds, or seriously disturb the market order." He suggested.