Plants and Seeds

1. Challenges and Prospects for China-EU Agricultural trade Plants and Seeds Dr. Ruiqing Huang President of Beijing Rui Xue Global Co., Ltd. 14th of November, 2007, Brussels

2. Main Contents • Plant quarantine (PQ) • Plant variety protection (PVP) • Cultural difference

3. Current Situation of PQ in China • In recent 10 years, a lot of work have been done and great achievements have been made. • Many good varieties have been introduced to China through quarantine and the Chinese variety list has been optimized.

4. Current Situation of PQ in China • Government pay more attention on research and development, many projects have been finished and quarantine level has been improved greatly. • Relevant government structure has been improved gradually.

5. Barriers of PQ in China • Lack of knowledge of quarantine officers. • Weak consciousness of quarantine knowledge of plants and seeds operators.

6. Barriers of PQ in China • Cross-functional management of government in plant quarantine. • Ministry of Agriculture ------ Agriculture plants • State Forestry Administration ------ Forestry plants • General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine ------ Entry and exit plant quarantine • This made import and export complicated and time consuming.

7. Barriers of PQ in China • Imperfection of plant quarantine system and technical facilities, especially in the lower level. • Too long quarantine time can’t always fit the need of import and export. • The above situations constrain the trade in the plant and seed field.

8. Development of PVP in China • Since 2001, the proportion of government input in total new variety breeding funds decreased gradually, while that of private input grew year by year. In 2004, private input had accounted for 49.8% of total breeding funds, slightly exceeded government input which accounted for 43% only.

9. Development of PVP in China • Meanwhile, breeding institutions gained substantial developing funds from the market through transferring and authorizing operation rights of seed varieties, which also promoted the private input to new variety breeding.

10. Released by New Variety Protection Office of Ministry of Agriculture on June 30, 2007. Summary forms for variety right applications from 1999 to 2007 in China

11. Classified according to plant types

12. Classified according to countries

13. Classified according to sectors

14. Barriers of PVP • Released protected varieties are too limited, still many varieties can’t be protected by the law. Thus, many EU breeders don’t want to sell their products to China. • Some enterprises or persons neglect PVP Regulation and infringe on the breeders’ rights and interests which seriously frustrate the enthusiasm of breeders both in China and abroad.

15. Barriers of PVP • Technical systems of new variety protection such as Dus-testing guidelines still need to be improved. The goal is to develop a guideline with more than 500 plant varieties, there is still a big gap. • The procedure of applying new variety examination and approval are too complicated both in China and EU which make difficulties for small companies to apply and to do business.

16. Cultural differences • Many business failed between China and EU not because of the bussiness itself, but misunderstanding and cultural difference in ways of doing business.

17. Thanks for your attention! BEIJING RUI XUE GLOBAL CO., LTD. Add: Room301, Building D, Shang Di Xin Xi Lu 2, Hai Dian District, Beijing, China Tel: 86-10-82896298 Fax: 86-10-82896297 E-Mail: ruiqinghuang@ruixueglobal.com Website: www.ruixueglobal.com