On 30 Oct. 2022, China’s legislature, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed the amended Animal Husbandry Law (畜牧法), which will come into effect on 1 Mar. 2023. The Law was enacted in 2005 and was amended in 2015.

Th Law contains 94 articles, among which the noteworthy provisions are as follows:

1.Under Article 16, where any entity imports a livestock or poultry genetic resource from abroad, it shall obtain approval from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the State Council.

2.Under Article 17, the state has sovereignty over the livestock and poultry genetic resources. Where any livestock or poultry genetic resource included in the protection list is to be exported from China or is to be researched and utilized within China in cooperation with any foreign institution or individual, the applicant shall file an application with the provincial agriculture and rural affairs department and shall put forward a plan on sharing the benefits with the state. The application shall be eventually approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the State Council.

3.Article 17 also stipulates that before a newly discovered livestock or poultry genetic resource is appraised by the National Commission for Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources, it shall not be exported from China nor be researched and utilized within China in cooperation with any foreign institution or individual.

4.The introduction, breeding, experiment, examination, approval and popularization of species of genetic-modified livestock and poultry shall be in line with the provisions on the biosecurity administration of agricultural genetic-modified organisms.