26 



Mr. Stenholm. Does any member have anything other than a 

 statement for the record? 



[No response.] 



Mr. Stenholm. Then we shall proceed with the first witness, Dr. 

 Kenneth C. Clayton, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Marketing 

 and Inspection Services, accompanied by Dr. Kenneth Evans and 

 Mr. Dieter Hoinkes. 



STATEMENT OF KENNETH C. CLAYTON, ACTING DEPUTY AS- 

 SISTANT SECRETARY, MARKETING AND INSPECTION SERV- 

 ICES, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, ACCOMPANIED 

 BY KENNETH EVANS, COMMISSIONER, PLANT VARIETY PRO- 

 TECTION OFFICE, MARKETING AND INSPECTION SERVICES, 

 AND H. DIETER HOINKES, PATENT AND TRADEMARK OF- 

 FICE, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 



Mr. Clayton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good afternoon to 

 you and to members of the subcommittee. I very much appreciate 

 the invitation to present the administration's views on H.R. 2927, 

 the bill to conform the Plant Variety Protection Act to the articles 

 of the 1991 act of the International Convention for the Protection 

 of New Varieties of Plants, also known as the UPOV convention. 



Accompanying me today are Dr. Kenneth Evans, Commissioner 

 of the Plant Variety Protection Office, and H. Dieter Hoinkes of the 

 Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce. 



Mr. Chairman, I will briefly summarize my written testimony 

 which has been submitted for the record. 



Also, Mr. Chairman, let me state at the outset that the adminis- 

 tration supports the enactment of H.R. 2927. 



In the United States, one effective form of protecting new plant 

 varieties that are reproduced by seed is by means of the Plant Va- 

 riety Protection Act, otherwise referred to as the PVPA. The PVPA 

 was passed by Congress in 1970. To afford our plant breeders pro- 

 tection in other countries as well, the United States became a 

 member of the UPOV convention in 1981. After several years of ex- 

 tended negotiations, the convention was significantly revised in 

 1991 to provide plant breeders with improved protection for innova- 

 tive plant varieties. 



Although the United States is a signatory to the 1991 act of the 

 UPOV convention, the PVPA must be amended to enable the Unit- 

 ed States to adhere or become party to the 1991 version. 



The continuous development of new plant varieties is important 

 to the production of food and fiber. The PVPA and UPOV are im- 

 portant to the development of new plant varieties. 



Mr. Chairman, given the limited time available today, I would 

 like to briefly address the more important changes to the PVPA 

 that H.R. 2927 would bring about. Turning first to the farmers' ex- 

 emption provisions, H.R. 2927 would continue to safeguard the 

 privilege of farmers to save seed of a protected variety for planting 

 on their own holdings. Sale of seed by the farmer to others would 

 be prohibited under H.R. 2927. 



However — and I must underscore this — the privilege of farmers 

 to sell saved seed protected under present law would not be dimin- 

 ished. Rather, the sale of saved seed would be subject to authoriza- 

 tion by the breeder only for varieties receiving protection after the 



