The Decree No. 3, 2014 of the Ministry of Agriculture of China on China Agriculture Ministry Revises Some Regulations

To implement State Council resolution (GuoFa [2014] No.5), the Ministry of Agriculture hereby decides to revise five sets of regulations as follow:

1. The Administrative Measures on Approval of Grassland Requisition & Occupation (by the Decree No.58, 2006 of the Ministry of Agriculture on January 27, 2006):

The 1st paragraph of the 8th article is revised to "where a grassland is necessarily to be used for building facilities that directly serve grassland protection and animal husbandry, the approval authority shall be subject to the following rules:

(1) Where the grassland area is more than 70 hectares, the approval authority shall be attributed to grassland administrations under province-level governments;

(2) Where the grassland area is not more than 70 hectares, the approval authority shall be attributed to grassland administrations under county-level or higher governments as per province-level instructions."

2. The Implementing Rules of the Regulations on Protection of New Varieties of Plants (for agriculture) (by the Decree No. 5, 2007 of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Decree No. 4, 2011 of the Ministry of Agriculture):

The 24th article is revised to "Where a Chinese entity or person makes any external application for variety rights regarding new varieties of plants that are domestically bred, they shall in advance apply for registration to local province-level administrations of agriculture".

3. The Administrative Measures on Edible Mushrooms Culture (by the Decree No.62, 2006 of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Decree No.5, 2013 of the Ministry of Agriculture):

The 8th article is revised to "the approval by the Ministry of Agriculture shall be obtained in advance for external supply of germplasm resources of edible mushrooms by any entity or person."

The 1st paragraph of the 30th article is revised to "an applicant for import and export of such germplasm resources shall fill in an import/export approval form and apply for the approval to local province-level administrations of agriculture."

4. The Administrative Measures on Grass Seeds (by the Decree No.56, 2006 of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Decree No.5, 2013 of the Ministry of Agriculture):

The 2nd paragraph of the 38th article is revised to "grass-seed quality inspection agencies shall be qualified in relevant test competence by local province-level administrations."

The 2nd paragraph of the 46th article is revised to "an applicant for import and export of grass seeds shall fill in an import/export approval form and apply for the approval to local province-level administrations of grassland."

5. The Administrative Measures on Aquatic Animals/Plants Natural Reserve Areas (by the Decrees No.24 of 1997, No.11 of 2010 and No.5 of 2013 of the Ministry of Agriculture):

The 18th article is revised to "Without approval, anybody shall be banned from entry to state-level aquatic animals/plants natural reserve areas and any activities potentially detrimental to the reserves shall be banned therein. Where necessary, any entrants to such reserve areas shall in advance submit their applications and activity plans to the reserve administrations on the strength of the approval by local province-level fishery administrations."

The 21st article is revised to "where any foreigner enters state-level aquatic animals/plants natural reserve areas, the host organization shall in advance obtain the entry approval from local province-level fishery administrations."



The Ministry of Agriculture of China

April 25, 2014