A bill titled Plant Variety Protection Bill, 2019 has been placed in parliament aiming to protect intellectual property rights of local farmers alongside the researchers and experts.
Agriculture Minister Dr Abdur Razzaque placed the Bill on Sunday and it was sent to the respective scrutiny committee for further examination. The committee was asked to submit its report within 45 days.
The proposed law was prepared as Bangladesh has an obligation to protect intellectual property rights regarding plant variety under the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement and the International Convention on Biological Diversity.
After enacting the law, there will be a Plant Variety Protection Authority under the leadership of a chairman. The Board of Directors of the Authority will have 17 members and their tenure will be for three years.
For false naming of any variety of a plant, the punishment will be maximum two years jail or Tk5 lakh fine or both.
