Section 2: Interpretation

2. Interpretation In this Act— “advertisement” means any statement, picture or design device which is published or brought to the notice of the public through radio or television or in any other manner; “breeder” means— (a) a person who has bred, or discovered and developed, a variety, his employer or the person who commissioned his work; or (b) the successor in title of a person referred to in paragraph (a); “Chairperson” means the Chairperson of the Seeds Committee; “common knowledge”, in relation to a variety, means a variety— (a) which is already in cultivation, has been exploited for commercial purposes, is held in a recognised reference collection or has a precise description in any publication; (b) which is or has been the subject of a Plant Breeder’s Right in any State; (c) which is or has been entered in a National Variety List in any State; or (d) in relation to which an application for a Plant Breeder’s Right or an entry in a National Variety List is under consideration in any State, provided the application is successful; “container” means a bag, box, bottle, case, tin, barrel, sack, wrapper or receptacle in which seed is placed or packed; “cultivate” means to grow the seed of any variety of any kind of plant with a view to the multiplication of the seed; “export” and “import” have the same meaning as in the Customs Act; “ISTA Rules” means the International Rules for Seed Testing made by the International Seed Testing Association of Switzerland; “kind of plant” means all related genera, species or subspecies of a plant which are known by the same common name; “label” means a document which visibly displays specific information in a readable manner on a container to facilitate seed identification and traceability; “listed variety” means a variety which is registered with NPVSO under section 8 (5) (b); “member”— (a) means a member of the Seeds Committee; and (b) includes the Chairperson; [Issue 10] S8A – 2 Revised Laws of Mauritius “Minister” means the Minister to whom responsibility for the subject of agriculture is assigned; “National Variety List” means the list referred to in section 9; “NPVSO” means the National Plant Varieties and Seeds Office set up under section 4; “officer” means an officer of NPVSO; “packaging” means the method and process of putting seed into a container; “Plant Breeder’s Right” means the form of intellectual property designed specifically to protect new varieties of plants; “produce”, in relation to any kind of plant, means to grow for the purpose of producing raw materials to be processed as seeds; “representative reference sample” means a sample of seed that is submitted in support of registration of a variety and guaranteed by the owner or breeder of the variety as truly representing the variety; “seed” means the whole or any part of a plant capable of regeneration and giving rise to a plant which is true to such type; “seed dealer” means a person registered as such under section 12; “seed processing” means the process by which seeds are dried, threshed, shelled, cleaned, graded or treated; “seed producer” means a person registered as such under section 22; “Seeds Committee” or “National Plant Varieties and Seeds Committee” means the Committee referred to in section 6; “supervising officer” means the supervising officer of the Ministry; “trade”, in relation to the seed of any variety of any kind of plant, means to buy, sell and barter; “true to type”— (a) in relation to a plant of a particular k ns the process by which seeds are dried, threshed, shelled, cleaned, graded or treated; “seed producer” means a person registered as such under section 22; “Seeds Committee” or “National Plant Varieties and Seeds Committee” means the Committee referred to in section 6; “supervising officer” means the supervising officer of the Ministry; “trade”, in relation to the seed of any variety of any kind of plant, means to buy, sell and barter; “true to type”— (a) in relation to a plant of a particular kind, means that it corresponds to the description of a plant of the kind concerned; (b) in relation to a seed of a particular kind, means that it corresponds to the description of a seed of the kind concerned; “varietal purity”, in relation to seed of a particular variety, means the percentage of the number of plants grown from the seed concerned which corresponds to the description of the plant of that variety and which are clearly distinguishable from any variety of the same kind of plant; “variety” means a plant grouping within a single botanical taxon of the lowest known rank which can be— (a) defined by the expression of the characteristics resulting from a given genotype or combination of genotypes; S8A – 3 [Issue 10] Seeds Act (b) distinguished from any other plant grouping by the expression of at least one of the characteristics; and (c) considered as a unit with regard to its suitability for being propagated unchanged; “variety name” means a word, number, letter or number combination used to designate a variety. (S. 2 not in operation.)