SANSOR
received the mandate from its membership to contract Agri Inspec
at the 2001 Annual General Meeting. The primary aim of this
agreement was to investigate infringements of plant breeders’
rights, as well as transgressions of the Plant Improvement Act, with
emphasis on the Seed Certification Schemes. Agri Inspec had
subsequently been contracted for this purpose since 1 March 2002.
Agri Inspec set the following as their main objectives:
- Identify and investigate transgressions of the Plant Breeders’
Rights Act, as well as the Plant Improvement Act;
- Prioritize suspects and to process cases for further legal
action; and
- Compile an information network for future preventative
actions.
During the period under review Agri Inspec investigated
eight major cases, of which three were registered as criminal cases.
The other cases were concluded in an amicable manner or were still
under investigation. Several minor complaints were also followed up.
As the ultimate objective of the seed trade was to stop or limit
illegal seed sales and not necessarily prosecute per sé, a
subsequent phase was implemented during which the public was
generally informed about the involvement of Agri Inspec in
the seed trade. This was done by means of several radio interviews
on appropriate radio stations.
A handy spin-off derived from the SANSOR/Agri Inspec
agreement was the deletion of unnecessary or obsolete varieties from
the national variety list, as well as the cancellation of outdated
plant breeders’ rights. The reason for this was the funding system
for Agri Inspec according to which SANSOR members had to pay
a levy on individual varieties listed on the national list and/or
registered for plant breeders rights. This initiative significantly
reduced the workload for statutory Variety Control, as well as
facilitated the process to get new varieties listed and/or
registered for plant breeders’ rights.
