Washington, DC
November 5, 2007
The
U.S. Department of Agriculture will hold a meeting of the
Plant Variety Protection Board on Nov. 14 and 15, 2007.
The meeting will take place at USDA’s National Agricultural
Library, 10301 Baltimore Blvd., Room 1400, in Beltsville,
Maryland. The meeting is open to the public.
The board consists of 14 individuals who are experts in various
areas of varietal development. The board members are appointed
by the Secretary of Agriculture and include representatives from
the private or seed industry sector, the public or government
sector and farmer representatives. The board’s function is to
advise the secretary about rules and regulations needed to
facilitate proper administration of the Plant Variety Protection
Act; to make advisory decisions on all appeals from the examiner
and to advise the secretary on questions related to section 44
of the Act on public interest in wide usage of a protected
variety.
Minutes of the meeting will be available for public review 30
days after the meeting and posted at
www.ams.usda.gov/science/pvpo/pvpindex.htm.
The meeting notice and proposed agenda will be published in the
Nov. 7, 2007, Federal Register. For more information, contact
Paul Zankowski, commissioner, by writing to:
Plant Variety Protection Office
Room 401
National Agricultural Library Building
10301 Baltimore Blvd.
Beltsville MD 20705.
Paul Zankowski also can be reached
via e-mail at
Paul.Zankowski@usda.gov, by calling (301) 504-5518 or by fax
at (301) 504-5291.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service administers the Plant
Variety Protection Act, which provides time-limited marketing
protection to developers of new and distinct seed-reproduced and
tuber-propagated plants ranging from farm crops to flowers.
More information about the Plant Variety Protection Board and
the Plant Variety Protection Act can be found at
http://ams.usda.gov/science/PVPO/pvpindex.htm.
|
|
