PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION ACT 

 AMENDMENTS OF 1993 



MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1993 



United States Senate, Subcommittee on Agricultur- 

 al Research, Conservation, Forestry, and General 

 Legislation, Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 

 and Forestry, 



Washington, DC. 



The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:16 p.m., in room SR- 

 332, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. J. Robert Kerrey presid- 

 ing. 



Present or submitting a statement: Senators Kerrey, Harkin, and 

 Cochran. 



STATEMENT OF HON. J. ROBERT KERREY, A U.S. SENATOR FROM 



NEBRASKA 



Senator Kerrey [presiding]. The subcommittee will come to 

 order. First of all, this hearing is being held just for the purpose of 

 receiving testimony on S. 1406, the Plant Variety Protection Act 

 Amendments of 1993, which was introduced on August 6 by Sena- 

 tor Daschle and myself. 



At the outset, I want to thank Senator Daschle, who is the chair- 

 man of this subcommittee, for his cooperation in allowing us to 

 move forward with these hearings. 



There are three objectives in this piece of legislation. First, it is 

 intended to ensure that those who risk the technological, financial, 

 and other resources necessary to develop new seed varieties are re- 

 warded for their investment and encouraged to continue this essen- 

 tial research. 



Second, the measure is intended to make sure that those who 

 have come to depend on steady germplasm advancements, includ- 

 ing farmers, consumers, and others who benefit from plant im- 

 provements, continue to enjoy the economic and other rewards pro- 

 vided by scientific progress. 



Third, this bill is offered as a necessary step to fulfill the obliga- 

 tions incurred by the United States as a result of our participation 

 in agreements designed to protect intellectual property rights in 

 the international marketplace. 



As a matter of fact, I first took an interest in this issue when I 

 learned last year that the executive branch apparently had taken 

 no steps to follow through on a treaty that the United States 

 signed in 1991. 



(l) 



