Japan Mulling Legislation against Wagyu Gene Smuggling

Tokyo, Jan. 18 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese agriculture ministry will propose a new law aimed at preventing the smuggling of genetic materials, or fertilized eggs and semen, of "wagyu" Japanese premium beef cattle into foreign countries. The envisioned law allows requests for injunctions against improper trading of genetic materials and, if deemed malicious, imposes criminal penalties. The legislation is designed to protect the wagyu brand, which has gained popularity in the United States, Europe and Asia, and encourage exports of wagyu beef. The ministry plans to submit the legislative bill to an ordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, which starts Monday. The new law will define genetic features of wagyu, for which Japanese farmers have been making breeding efforts over many years, as intellectual property, and allows injunctions against reselling, siphoning and breeding without proper contracts. The regulation comes after an attempt to smuggle a massive amount of wagyu fertilized eggs into China came to light in 2018. As breeding outside Japan will hurt exports by Japanese breeders, farmers have been calling for a measure to prevent the smuggling of wagyu genetic materials abroad, which has been effectively unregulated. Moreover, Japan do not have a rule protecting wagyu breeders' rights to breeding outcomes, unlike plant breeding. The ministry is also considering allowing people to seek injunctions against trading of calves raised from fertilized eggs and semen that were acquired improperly. END