shall, in all proceedings for an offence under this Act, be prima facie evidence of the
facts stated therein, and shall unless the contrary is proved, be presumed to be signed by
the Registrar or officer concerned without production of proof of such signature or, as the
case may require, such authorisation.
8.
Offences and penalties
(1) Any person who-
(a) wilfully obstructs the Registrar or any officer so authorised in the due execution of his duties; or
(b) names or releases a crop variety or livestock breed in Nigeria without the written authority of the
Registrar to do so; or
(c) in giving any information for the purposes of this Act, knowingly or recklessly makes any statement
which is false in any material particular, shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.
(2) Any person found guilty of an offence under this Act shall be liable on conviction
to a fine of N200 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such
fine and imprisonment.
(3) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved
to have been committed with the connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the
part of a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any
person purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be
deemed to be guilty of that offence and liable on conviction to a fine of NS,OOO.
9.
Regulations
The Minister may, with the approval of the President, make regulations generally for
the effective operation of this Act and the due administration thereof and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, he may by such regulations(a) provide for any alterations in the particulars recorded in the National Register; and
(b) provide for returns of particulars recorded by any authorised officer to the Registrar.
10. Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires"crop variety and livestock breed" means a kind of crop or livestock which because
it possesses noticeable and stable characteristics becomes distinguishable from other
kinds of the same crop or livestock;
"germplasm" means the hereditary materials contained in living plants and animals;
the living plant or animal represents its germplasm;
"Minister" means the Minister charged with the responsibility for matters relating to
science and technology;
"National register" means the National register maintained in pursuance of section I
of this Act and "registered" shall be construed accordingly;
"Registrar" means the person appointed as Registrar under section 2 of this Act;
"validation" means the act of confirming after testing that the variety or breed IS
truly new and distinct.
11. Short title