Seed Law of the People’s Republic of China

(Adopted at the 16th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People’s Congress on July 8, 2000, amended for the first time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Seed Law of the People’s Republic of China adopted at the 11th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Tenth National People’s Congress on August 28, 2004, amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of Cultural Relics and Other Eleven Laws adopted at the 3rd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress on June 29, 2013, revised at the 17th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People’s Congress on November 4, 2015, and amended for the third time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Seed Law of the People’s Republic of China adopted at the 32nd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People’s Congress on December 24, 2021.)

Contents

Chapter I             General Provisions

Chapter II            Protection of Germplasm Resources  

Chapter III           Selective Breeding, Review and Decision, and Registration of Varieties

Chapter IV          Protection of New Varieties

Chapter V            Production and Operation of Seeds

Chapter VI          Seed-Related Supervision and Administration

Chapter VII         Import and Export of Seeds and International Cooperation

Chapter VIII        Support Measures

Chapter IX          Legal Liability

Chapter X           Supplementary Provisions

Chapter I

General Provisions

Article 1      This Law is formulated for the purposes of protecting and making rational exploitation of germplasm resources, regulating the selective breeding of varieties, the production and business operation of seeds and seed-related administration, strengthening scientific and technological research in the seed industry, encouraging breeding innovation, protecting the new plant variety right, safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of seed producers, operators and users, improving the quality of seeds, developing a modern seed industry, ensuring national food security, and promoting the development of agriculture and forestry.

Article 2      This Law shall apply to the activities, such as the selective breeding of varieties, the seed production and business operation and seed-related administration within the territory of the People’s Republic of China.

Seeds referred to in this Law mean the planting or propagating material of crops and forest trees, such as grains, fruits, roots, stems, seedlings, sprouts, leaves and flowers.

Article 3      The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall be respectively in charge of the work related to crop and forest tree seeds throughout the country. The competent departments for agriculture and rural affairs and the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the local people’s governments at or above the county level shall be respectively in charge of the work related to crop and forest tree seeds within their administrative regions.

The people’s governments at all levels and their relevant departments shall take measures to strengthen seed-related law enforcement and supervision, and punish illegal acts that infringe the lawful rights and interests of farmers in accordance with law.

Article 4      The state supports the protection of germplasm resources and the selective breeding, production, replacement, and promotion of improved varieties, encourages the integration of selective breeding of varieties and the seed production and business operation, and rewards the entities and individuals that achieve outstanding successes in the work such as the protection of germplasm resources and the selective breeding and promotion of improved varieties.

Article 5     The people’s governments at or above the provincial level shall make development plans for the seed industry in accordance with the guidelines for developing agriculture with the help of science and education and in light of the need for the development of agriculture and the forestry, and ensure the implementation of such plans.

Article 6      The people’s government at or above the provincial level establishes a seed reserve system, mainly to meet the need for production in times of calamities and to redistribute surplus seeds to ensure the security of agriculture and forestry. The reserved seeds shall be regularly inspected and replaced. The specific measures for seed reserves shall be formulated by the State Council.

Article 7      The selective breeding, trial, review and decision procedure, and promotion of genetically modified plant varieties shall be subject to safety assessment, and strict safety control measures shall be taken. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall strengthen tracing and regulation, and publish the information on the review and decision and the promotion of genetically modified plant varieties in time. The specific measures in this respect shall be formulated by the State Council.

Chapter II

Protection of Germplasm Resources

Article 8      The state protects germplasm resources in accordance with law, and no entity or individual shall misappropriate or damage germplasm resources.

Collecting or cutting plants with key state-protected natural germplasm resources is prohibited. Where such collection or cutting is required under special circumstances such as scientific research, it shall be subject to approval by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council or under the people’s government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government.

Article 9      The state, in a planned way, surveys, collects, sorts out, identifies, registers, conserves, exchanges, and exploits germplasm resources, focuses on collecting valuable and rare, endangered and endemic resources and distinctive local varieties, and regularly publishes the catalogs of available germplasm resources. The specific measures in this respect shall be formulated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council.

Article 10      The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall establish banks, reserves, or protected areas of germplasm resources. The competent departments for agriculture and rural affairs and the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of the need, establish banks, reserves, or protected areas of germplasm resources. Germplasm resources in such banks, reserves, and protected areas are public resources that shall be accessible for exploitation in accordance with law.

The occupation of any bank, reserve, or protected area of germplasm resources must be approved by the founder of the said bank, reserve, or protected area.

Article 11    The state has sovereignty over germplasm resources. Any entity or individual shall make an application to the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council for approval and simultaneously submit a benefit-sharing plan before providing germplasm resources abroad or cooperating with a foreign institution or individual in research on germplasm resource exploitation. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council may entrust the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government to receive application materials. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council shall inform the competent department of ecology and environment under the State Council of the approval.

Any introduction of germplasm resources from abroad shall be handled in accordance with the relevant regulations of the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council.

Chapter III

Selective Breeding, Review and Decision Procedure, and Registration of Varieties

Article 12    The state supports scientific research institutes and higher education institutions in carrying out research on the basic, frontier, or applied technologies concerning variety breeding and on biological breeding technologies, and supports research for public interests such as the breeding of conventional crop varieties and major afforestation tree varieties, and the selective breeding of vegetative propagating material.

The state encourages seed enterprises to fully exploit the research for public interests to breed superior varieties of independent intellectual property rights. The state encourages seed enterprises to build technological research and development platforms with scientific research institutes and higher education institutions and to tackle key problems in the breeding of main food crops and economically important crops, and forms a market-oriented, benefit-sharing and risk-sharing technological innovation system for the seed industry which combines the efforts of industries, universities and research institutes.

The state strengthens the capacity for scientific and technological innovation in the seed industry, promotes the translation of relevant scientific and technological research, and safeguards the lawful rights and interests of scientific and technical personnel in the industry.

Article 13    The patent rights on breeding inventions and the rights of new plant varieties, which are the research results of government-funded projects, shall be acquired by the authorized project contractors in accordance with law, except for those involving national security, national interests, or major public interests.

Transfer and licensing of the research results of breeding projects mainly funded by the governments shall be carried out publicly in accordance with law, and shall not be done secretly.

Article 14     Where the earnings of entities or individuals are reduced because the competent department of forestry and grassland establishes test plantations, trial plantations, superior tree varieties collection areas or gene banks for selective breeding of improved forest tree varieties, the competent department of forestry and grassland that approves the establishment of the abovementioned areas shall make financial compensation to the entities or individuals in accordance with the relevant regulations of the state.

Article 15    The state implements a review and decision system for main crop and forest tree varieties. Main crop or forest tree varieties shall pass the national-level or provincial-level review and decision before promotion. Main forest tree varieties determined by the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall be subject to review and decision at the provincial level.

Varieties subject to review and decision shall meet the distinctness, uniformity, and stability requirements.

The review and decision measures of main crop or forest tree varieties shall be formulated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council. Such measures shall embody the principles of impartiality, openness, scientificity, and efficiency, be conducive to the improvement and coordination of the yield, quality, resistance and other aspects, and be conducive to the promotion of the varieties that meet market and consumption needs. In formulating and amending such measures, the opinions of breeders, seed users, seed producers and operators, and representatives of the relevant industries shall be fully heard.

Article 16  The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council or under the people’s government of a province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall respectively set up a review and decision committee for crop varieties or one for forest tree varieties, which are composed of professionals. The variety review and decision committee shall be in charge of the review and decision of main crop or forest tree varieties and create review and decision files, such as application documents, data of review and decision trials, seed samples, opinions and conclusions of review and decision to ensure traceability. The opinions put forward during the review and decision shall be included in the information published on a variety that has been adopted in the review and decision in accordance with law for supervision.

A recusal system is implemented in the review and decision of seed varieties. Committee members and staff members of variety review and decision committees and relevant technicians responsible for testing or trial shall be devoted to their duties and be impartial and honest. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department for forestry and grassland under the people’s government at or above the provincial level and the relevant authorities shall, in accordance with law, promptly handle the illegal acts of any of the aforementioned persons as reported by any entity or individual or discovered through supervision and inspection.

Article 17  Where seed enterprises integrate the selective breeding of varieties and the seed production and business operation, and comply with the relevant conditions prescribed by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council, the enterprises may, in accordance with the measures for review and decision, complete by themselves the trial on independently developed main crop or forest tree varieties; if such trial results reach the review and decision standards, the variety review and decision committees shall issue review and decision certificates. The seed enterprises shall be responsible for the authenticity of the trial data, ensure traceability and accept supervision by the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people’s governments at or above the provincial level as well as by the public.

Article 18     Where crop or forest tree varieties fail to be adopted in the review and decision and the applicants have objections thereto, they may apply for a reexamination to the original review and decision committee or to the review and decision committee at the national level.

Article 19    A crop variety or an improved forest tree variety that has been adopted in the review and decision at the national level shall be announced by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council, and may be promoted in suitable ecoregions throughout the country. A crop variety or an improved forest tree variety that has been adopted in the review and decision at the provincial level shall be announced by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the people’s government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government, and may be promoted in suitable ecoregions in the administrative region that makes the announcement; where the crop variety or improved forest tree variety is introduced to the regions of another province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government in a same type of suitable ecoregion, the introducer shall file, for the record, the information of the variety and the regions intended for the introduction with the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the local people’s government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government.

Any exotic forest tree variety to be introduced to a region shall pass the trial in accordance with the national standards on variety introduction.

Article 20  The competent departments for agriculture and rural affairs and the competent departments for forestry and grassland under the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government shall improve the regional coordination mechanisms for the selective breeding and the review and decision of varieties, and facilitate the selective breeding and promotion of superior varieties.

Article 21  Where a crop or an improved forest tree variety that has been adopted in the review and decision is unsuitable for continued promotion or sale under the circumstances such as with a serious insurmountable defect, the prior review and decision shall be revoked upon examination and confirmation by the original review and decision committee, the announcement shall be issued by the original announcing department, and the promotion and sale of the said variety shall be ceased.

Article 22  The state implements a registration system for some non-main crop varieties. Varieties included in the registration catalogue of non-main crop varieties shall be registered prior to the promotion.

The scope of crops subject to variety registration shall be strictly limited and determined according to the principles of conserving biodiversity and ensuring the safety of consumers and the safety of seed utilization. The registration catalogues shall be compiled and revised by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council.

An applicant of variety registration shall submit application documents and seed samples to the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the people’s government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government, be responsible for their authenticity, ensure the traceability, and accept supervision and inspection. The application documents shall include the species, denomination, origin, characteristics, breeding process and testing reports on the applied variety’s distinctness, uniformity, and stability.

The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the people’s government of the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government shall conduct a formalities examination of the application documents within 20 working days from the date it accepts the application for variety registration and, in the case of compliance, report the matter to the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council for registration announcement.

Where the application documents or the seed samples of a registered variety are found to be false, the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council shall revoke the registration of the said variety, include the information of the violation in the social credit file of the said applicant, and publish such information; where losses are therefore caused to seed users or other seed producers or operators, the liability for compensation shall be borne in accordance with law.

Where a registered variety falls under circumstances such as with a serious insurmountable defect, the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council shall revoke the registration, issue an announcement, and the promotion of such variety shall be ceased.

The measures for registering non-main crop varieties shall be formulated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council.

Article 23    A crop variety that has not gone through the review and decision procedure as required shall not be advertised, promoted, or sold.

A forest tree variety that has not gone through the review and decision procedure as required shall not be promoted or sold as an improved variety. However, where such variety is indeed needed for production, the matter shall be submitted to the forest tree variety review and decision committee for confirmation.

A crop variety that is not registered as required shall not be advertised or promoted, nor shall such variety be sold in the name of a registered variety.

Article 24    Where foreign institutions or individuals with no habitual residences or business premises within China apply for the review and decision or the registration of varieties in China, they shall entrust domestic seed enterprises with the legal person status to serve as their agents.

Chapter IV

Protection of New Varieties

Article 25  The state implements a system for new plant variety protection. A plant variety artificially selected or improved from a discovered wild plant genus or species in the national lists of protected plant varieties, which is new, distinct, uniform, and stable, and whose denomination is appropriately designated, shall be granted the new plant variety right by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council to protect the lawful rights and interests of the right holder. The contents and the holder of the plant variety right, conditions for its grant, application and acceptance, review and approval, duration, termination and nullification of variety rights shall be regulated by the provisions of this Law and other relevant laws and administrative regulations.

The state encourages and supports scientific and technological innovation in the seed industry, the breeding of new plant varieties, and the translation of relevant research. Where the protected varieties are promoted and applied, the breeders shall obtain corresponding economic interests in accordance with law.

Article 26  The plant variety right to one new plant variety may only be granted to one breeder. Where two or more breeders file applications respectively for the variety right to the same variety, the right shall be granted to the applicant whose application has been filed first; in the case of simultaneous applications, the variety right shall be granted to the applicant who has first accomplished the breeding of the said variety.

For any new plant variety that is in violation of the law or harmful to the public interest or ecological environment, the plant variety right shall not be granted.

Article 27  The denomination of a new plant variety with the plant variety right granted shall be distinguishable from the denomination of any other known variety of the same or similar botanical genus or species. The said denomination of the new plant variety, after the variety right is granted to it, shall be the generic designation of the new plant variety.

The following denominations may not be used in the designation of a protected variety:

(1) those consisting solely of figures;

(2) those in violation of social morality; or

(3) those liable to mislead concerning the features or characteristics of the new plant variety or the identity of the breeder.

The denomination  used in applying for the protection, review and decision, registration, promotion, and in the sale of a new plant variety shall be the same. The seeds produced for promotion or sale shall conform with the samples submitted for applying for new plant variety protection, variety review and decision, or variety registration.

Article 28  A plant variety right holder has the exclusive right to his protected variety. The variety right holder may license others to exploit the variety right and collect license fees as agreed in the contract; the license fees may be collected in the forms such as a fixed price or a commission from the promotion income.

No entity or individual shall, without the consent of the variety right holder, produce, propagate, treat for propagating purposes, offer for sale, sell, import, export, or store the propagating material of the said protected variety for the purpose of performing the aforementioned acts, or shall repeatedly use for commercial purposes the propagating material of the said protected variety in the production of the propagating material of another variety, unless otherwise provided by this Law or other relevant laws or administrative regulations.

Where any of the acts provided for in the preceding paragraph is performed, which involves harvested material obtained by the unauthorized use of propagating material of the protected variety, authorization shall be obtained from the variety right holder, unless the variety right holder has had a reasonable opportunity to exercise his right in relation to the propagating material.

Where any of the acts provided for in the preceding two paragraphs is performed on an essentially derived variety, the consent of the variety right holder of the initial variety shall be obtained.

The steps and measures for implementing the system for the essentially derived variety shall be formulated by the State Council.

Article 29  Where a protected variety is exploited under any of the following circumstances, the exploitation may be allowed without the authorization from or the payment of a royalty to the variety right holder, but it shall not infringe upon other rights of the variety right holder in accordance with this Law or other relevant laws or administrative regulations:

(1) the exploitation of the protected variety for breeding and other scientific research activities; or

(2) the use by farmers for propagating purposes, on their own holdings, of the product of the harvest which they have obtained by planting propagating material of the protected variety on their own holdings.

Article 30  For national interests or public interests, the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council may make a decision to grant a compulsory license for the exploitation of a variety right, and register and announce it.

Any entity or individual that has obtained a compulsory license for exploitation neither has an exclusive right to exploiting the variety right nor has the right to authorizing exploitation by others.

Chapter V

Seed Production and Business Operation

Article 31  The production and operation licenses of seed enterprises engaged in importing and exporting seeds shall be issued by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council. The competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council may entrust the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government to receive application materials.

The seed production and operation licenses of the seed enterprises engaged in the production and business operation of hybrid seeds and their parent seeds of main crops and propagating material of improved forest tree varieties, as well as the licenses of the crop seed enterprises that combine the selective breeding of varieties and the production and business operation of seeds in compliance with the conditions prescribed by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs under the State Council, shall be issued by the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government.

The licenses for seed production and business operation other than those provided for in the preceding two paragraphs shall be issued by the competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the local people’s governments at or above the county level where the producers or operators are located.

Producers only engaged in producing non-main crop seeds or non-main forest tree seeds are not required to apply for seed production and operation licenses.

Article 32  The applicants applying for the seed production and operation licenses shall have the facilities, equipment, and specialized technicians that are suitable for seed production or operation and meet other requirements prescribed by regulations and those set by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council.

Seed producers shall have both the isolating and breeding conditions for propagating seeds and have seed production bases free of quarantine pests or seed stands designated by the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people’s governments at or above the county level.

The applicants applying for the production and operation licenses of the seeds of protected varieties shall obtain written consent from the variety right holders.

Article 33  A seed production and operation license shall clearly specify matters such as the name, address, and legal representative of the producer or operator, the varieties and the production sites of the seeds, the business scope, the period of validity, and the region of validity.

Where there is a change in any of the matters provided for in the preceding paragraph, an application for alteration of registration shall be filed to the original license-issuing authority within 30 days from the date of the change.

Unless otherwise provided by this Law, any entity or individual is prohibited from seed production or business operation without obtaining a seed production and operation license or in violation of the provisions of the license. Forging, altering, trading in, or leasing a seed production and operation license is prohibited.

Article 34    Seed production shall be in compliance with the technical rules for seed production and the rules for seed inspection and quarantine to ensure that seeds meet quality requirements such as analytical purity, varietal purity, and germination and quarantine requirements.

The competent departments of agriculture and rural affairs and the competent departments of forestry and grassland under the people’s governments at or above the county level shall provide guidance and support for seed producers and operators in adopting advanced seed production technologies, improving production processes, and enhancing seed quality.

Article 35    Collection of seeds within forest seed production bases shall be organized by the operators of the seed production bases, and the seeds shall be collected in accordance with the relevant national standards.

Plundering unripe seeds and damaging mother trees are prohibited, and collecting seeds in inferior forest stands or from inferior mother trees is prohibited.

Article 36  Seed producers and operators shall create and keep files of the seed production and business operation, which contain contents including seed origins, production sites, quantity, quality, purchaser’s names, sale dates, and relevant responsible persons to ensure traceability. The specific matters to be specified in a file of the seed production and business operation and the period for keeping such a file and the seed samples shall be stipulated by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council.

Article 37  Where farmers have surplus conventional seeds, which they have obtained by planting on their own holdings propagating material of the protected variety, they may sell and exchange the said seeds at the local rural fairs, and are not required to apply for a seed production and operation license.

Article 38  The region of validity of a seed production and operation license shall be determined by the license-issuing authority within its jurisdiction. Where a seed producer or operator establishes branch offices within the region of validity specified in the license, or specially operates the business of packaged seeds that are not to be repackaged into smaller packages, or produces or sells seeds based on a written commission as an agent of another seed producer or operator possessing a license, the said seed producer or operator is not required to apply for a seed production and operation license but shall file for the record with the competent local department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland.

The region of validity of a production and operation license issued to a seed enterprise that integrates the selective breeding of varieties and the production and operation of seeds, and complies with the conditions prescribed by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council, shall be the whole country.

Article 39  Seeds for sale shall be processed, graded, and packaged, except those that cannot be processed or packaged.

The seeds in large packages or the imported seeds may be repackaged into smaller packages; in such cases, the repackaging units shall be clearly indicated, and the operators shall be accountable for the quality of such seeds.

Article 40  Seeds for sale shall be in compliance with the national or industrial standards, with labels and instructions for use attached thereto. The contents indicated on the labels and in the instructions shall be consistent with the seeds for sale. The seed producers and operators shall be accountable for the authenticity of such contents and the quality of the seeds.

The label shall clearly indicate the category of the seeds, variety denomination, variety review and decision or registration serial number, suitable planting areas and seasons, producer and operator and its place of incorporation, quality index, serial number of quarantine certificate, serial number and information code of the seed production and operation license, and other matters as prescribed by the competent department of agriculture and rural affairs or the competent department of forestry and grassland under the State Council.

For the sale of the seeds of a protected variety, the serial number of the variety right shall be indicated.

For the sale of imported seeds, the import review and approval number and a label in Chinese shall be attached.

For the sale of the seeds of genetically modified plant varieties, it must be clearly stated in labelling, and safety control measures shall be indicated for their use.

Seed producers and operators shall observe relevant laws and regulations, follow the principle of good faith, provide seed users with producers’ information, main traits of seeds, main cultivation measures, adaptability and other instructions for use, risk warning and relevant consulting services, and shall not engage in the false or misleading promotion.

No entity or individual shall illegally interfere in the seed producers’ or operators’ right to freedom of production or operation.

Article 41  The contents of seed advertisements shall conform to the provisions of this Law and laws and regulations on advertising, and the descriptions, such as those of the main traits, shall be consistent with those stated in the review and decision or the registration announcements. 

Article 42  Seeds to be transported or mailed shall be subject to quarantine in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations.

Article 43  Seed users have the right to purchase seeds according to their own will. No entity or individual shall illegally interfere in such purchase.

Article 44  The state supports the afforestation with improved forest tree varieties. For the afforestation projects invested or mainly invested by the state and for afforestation by state-owned forestry entities, improved forest tree varieties shall be exploited in accordance with the plans formulated by the competent department of forestry and grassland.

Article 45  Where seed users suffer losses due to seed quality problems or untrue contents indicated on the labels or in the instructions for use of seeds, they may request the seed sellers to make compensation or may request the seed producers or other operators to make compensation. The amount of compensation shall include the purchase price of the seeds, the loss of obtainable benefits, and other losses. Where the liability is attributed to the seed producers or other operators, the seed sellers who have made compensation have the right to indemnification against the said producers or other operators; where the liability is attributed to the seed sellers, the seed producers or other operators who have made compensation have the right to indemnification against the said sellers.