Yesterday, Taiwan's Legislature passed amendments that set higher fines and possible prison sentences for people who illegally export certain indigenous varieties of plant and fruit seeds, or their derivatives.
The bill, comprising amendments to the Plant Variety and Plant Seed Act, stipulates that people who illegally export seed varieties designated by the Council of Agriculture can face a maximum sentence of three years in prison or a fine ranging from NT$600,000 (US$19,480) to NT$3 million, or both.
The legislation came in response to several instances in recent years in which crop cultivars developed by Taiwanese agricultural engineers have wound up, without authorization, in China, only to be grown there and marketed internationally as Chinese varieties.
Source: focustaiwan.tw