HC Deb 26 November 1997 vol 301 cc1043-4

Lords amendment: No. 2, in page 4, line 38, leave out (", or other") and insert ("and")

Mr. Rooker

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

The 1991 UPOV convention, which we shall be able to ratify when the Bill is enacted, exempts acts done for private and non-commercial purposes from the breeders' rights. This ensures that amateur gardeners, for example, can continue to take cuttings of protected varieties for their own private use. The Bill as originally drafted referred to "private, or other non-commercial" use. That could be interpreted as permitting the multiplication of large quantities of protected varieties for public rather than private use provided that it is done for non-commercial purposes.

That is not what the convention intended. Lords amendment No. 2 brings clause 8 into line with the convention, and the corresponding provision in the Community plant variety rights regime, by making it clear that an act must be both private and non-commercial in order to fall within the exemption.

Lords amendment agreed to.

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