Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Agricultural Technologies

　　Order of the President of the People's Republic of China No. 60

　　August 31, 2012

　　(Adopted at the 2nd meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eighth National People's Congress on July 2, 1993, and amended by the Decision on Revision of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Promotion of Agricultural Technologies passed at the 28th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress on August 31, 2012)

　　Table of Contents
　　Chapter I General Provisions
　　Chapter II Agricultural Technology Promotion System
　　Chapter III Promotion and Application of Agricultural Technologies
　　Chapter IV Safeguard Measures for Agricultural Technology Promotion
　　Chapter V Legal Liabilities
　　Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

　　Chapter I General Provisions

　　Article 1 This Law is enacted for the purpose of strengthening the promotion of agricultural technologies, facilitating the application of agricultural research findings and practical technologies in agricultural production, strengthening the supporting and safeguarding capacity of science and technology, promoting the sustainable development of agriculture and rural economy, and realizing the modernization of agricultural industry.

　　Article 2 For the purpose of this Law, "agricultural technologies" shall refer to scientific research results and practical technologies applied to planting, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, including:
　　1. Technologies or cultivation of good strains of plants, planting, application of fertilizers, and animal breeding;
　　2. Technologies for preventing and controlling plant diseases and pests, animal epidemic diseases, and other harmful organisms;
　　3. Technologies for harvesting, processing, packaging, storing and transporting agricultural products;
　　4. Technologies for ensuring the safe use of agricultural inputs and the quality and safety of agricultural products;
　　5. Technologies for farmland irrigation, water supply and drainage in rural areas, soil improvement, and soil and water conservation;
　　6. Technologies for agricultural mechanization, agricultural aviation, agricultural meteorology and agricultural information;
　　7. Technologies for the prevention and mitigation of agricultural disasters, the safety of agricultural resources and agro-ecology, and rural energy development and utilization;
　　8. Other agricultural technologies.
　　For the purpose of this Law, "promotion of agricultural technologies" shall refer to the promotion and application of agricultural technologies to the entire process of agricultural production, including the processes before, during, and after agricultural production, by means of experiment, demonstration, training, guidance and consulting services.

　　Article 3 The State shall support the promotion of agricultural technologies, accelerate the promotion and utilization of agricultural technologies, and develop eco-friendly and safe agriculture characterized with high yield, high quality, and high efficiency.

　　Article 4 Promotion of agricultural technologies shall abide by the following principles:
　　1. Benefiting the sustainable development of agriculture and rural economy and increasing farmers' incomes;
　　2. Respecting the will of agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations;
　　3. Adopting measures that suit local conditions;
　　4. Separating non-profit promotion from for-profit promotion;
　　5. Considering both economic benefit and social benefit and paying attention to ecological benefit.

　　Article 5 The State encourages and supports scientific and technical personnel to develop and promote the application of advanced agricultural technologies, and encourages and supports agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations to apply advanced agricultural technologies.
　　The State encourages the application of modern information technology and other advanced communication means to disseminate agricultural scientific knowledge and to innovate the methods and means for agricultural technology promotion so as to enhance the efficiency in the promotion.

　　Article 6 The State encourages and supports the introduction of advanced agricultural technologies from abroad, and promotes international cooperation and exchange in relation to promotion of agricultural technologies.

　　Article 7 The people's governments at various levels shall enhance their leadership of the promotion of agricultural technologies, organize the relevant departments and units to take measures to raise the level of agricultural technology promotion services in order to push forward the progress of agricultural technology promotion.

　　Article 8 Entities and individuals who have made contributions to the promotion of agricultural technologies shall be commended.

　　Article 9 The agriculture, forestry, water conservation, and other departments under the State Council (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "departments for agricultural technology promotion") shall, according to their respective duties, take charge of the relevant work of agricultural technology promotion on a nationwide basis. The departments for agricultural technology promotion of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall, according to their respective duties, take charge of the relevant work of promoting the agricultural technologies within their respective administrative regions. The science and technology departments of the people's government at the same level shall provide instructions on the work of promoting the agricultural technologies. The other relevant departments of the people's government at the same level shall, according to their respective duties, take charge of the relevant work of agricultural technology promotion.

　　Chapter II Agricultural Technology Promotion System

　　Article 10 Promotion of agricultural technologies shall adopt a system combining the state agricultural technologies promotion institutions with agricultural scientific research units, relevant schools, farmers' specialized cooperatives, agriculture-related enterprises, mass organizations for science and technology, and farmer technicians.
　　The State encourages and supports supply and marketing cooperatives, other enterprises and public institutions, social organizations and scientific and technical personnel in all walks of life to provide agricultural technology promotion services.

　　Article 11 State agricultural technology promotion institutions at all levels, as public services institutions, shall perform the following duties for public benefit:
　　1. Introducing and conducting experiments and demonstrations for key agricultural technologies determined by the people's government at various levels;
　　2. Monitoring, forecasting and preventing plant diseases and pests, animal epidemic diseases and agricultural disasters;
　　3. Providing consultation and technical services for inspection, testing and monitoring in the process of agricultural production;
　　4. Monitoring the safety of agricultural resources, forestry resources and agro-ecology, and the use of agricultural inputs;
　　5. Providing technical services of water resources management, flood control and drought relief, and construction of farmland irrigation works;
　　6. Providing publicity, education, and training services of agricultural public information and agricultural technologies;
　　7. Other duties as prescribed by laws and regulations.

　　Article 12 State agricultural technology promotion institutions in counties, townships and regions shall be established under the principles of being scientific and reasonable and concentrating efforts, and in light of regional agricultural characteristics, the distribution of forestry resources, water systems and water conservancy facilities, and other situations.
　　State agricultural technology promotion institutions at township level may be operated under a system of primary management by the departments for agricultural technology promotion of the county people's governments, or primary management by the township people's governments with the departments for agricultural technology promotion of the county people's government providing instructions, and the specific arrangements shall be determined by the people's governments of the provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government.

　　Article 13 The staffing of a state agricultural technology promotion institution shall be reasonably determined on the basis of the size of planting and breeding activities, service scope, work tasks and other factors within its respective service region to ensure the performance of its public duties.
　　The job positions set up within a state agricultural technology promotion institution shall be mainly professional technical positions. The job positions set up within a state agricultural technology promotion institution at township level shall be all professional technical positions; the professional technical positions set up within a state agricultural technology promotion institution at county level shall not be less than eighty percent of the total job positions within the same institution; the professional technical positions set up in any other state agricultural technology promotion institution shall not be less than seventy percent of the total job positions within the institution.

　　Article 14 The professional technical personnel of a state agricultural technology promotion institution shall have corresponding professional skills that meet the requirements of their job positions.
　　Any new professional technical employee of a state agricultural technology promotion institution is required to have the relevant academic background above the junior college level, and have passed the professional skill examination organized by the relevant department of the people's government at the county level. Autonomous counties, ethinci townships, and the ar contiguous areas of exceptional poverty as designated by the State may, upon approval by the relevant departments of the people's government of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government, employ persons with the relevant education background at the technical secondary school level or other persons with the corresponding professional skills.
　　The state encourages and supports graduates from institutions of higher education and scientific and technical personnel to engage in the work of agricultural technology promotion at the grassroots level. The people's governments at various levels shall take measures to attract talent for staffing and consolidating the teams for agricultural technology promotion at the grassroots level.

　　Article 15 The State encourages and supports village agricultural technical service stations and farmer technicians to carry out promotion of agricultural technologies. Farmer technicians who assist in public agricultural technology promotion activities shall be offered subsidies pursuant to relevant provisions.
　　Farmer technicians who meet the relevant requirements after examination may be given corresponding technical titles and certificates pursuant to relevant provisions.
　　State agricultural technology promotion institutions shall enhance guidance for village agricultural technical service stations and farmer technicians.
　　Villagers' committees and collective economic organizations of villages shall support and assist the work of village agricultural technical service stations and farmer technicians.

　　Article 16 Agricultural scientific research units and relevant schools shall adapt to the needs of economic development in rural areas, develop and promote agricultural technologies, and speed up the promotion and application of advanced technologies in agricultural production.
　　Agricultural scientific research units and relevant schools shall regard the actual performance of their scientific and technical personnel in promotion of agricultural technologies as an important part of performance evaluation and determination of professional or technical titles.

　　Article 17 The State encourages farms, forest farms, pastures, fishing grounds and water conservancy projects management entities to provide agricultural technology promotion services to the public.

　　Article 18 The State encourages and supports the development of mass organizations of science and technology such as specialized technology associations in rural areas, to make efforts in promoting agricultural technologies.

　　Chapter III Promotion and Application of Agricultural Technologies

　　Article 19 The promotion of key agricultural technologies shall be included in the relevant national and local development programs and plans and be implemented by the departments for agricultural technology promotion jointly with the relevant departments of scientific technologies and other relevant departments according to their respective duties.

　　Article 20 Agricultural scientific research units and relevant schools shall regard the technical problems to be solved in agricultural production as their research subjects, and the research findings may be promoted by the relevant agricultural technology promotion institutions or directly to agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations.
　　The State shall guide agricultural scientific research units and relevant schools to provide public agricultural technology promotion services.

　　Article 21 Agricultural technologies promoted to agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations must be advanced, applicable and safe as proved by prior tests in promotion areas.

　　Article 22 The State encourages and supports agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations to participate in agricultural technology promotion.
　　For agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations which apply advanced agricultural technologies in production, the relevant departments and entities shall provide support in terms of technical training, funds, materials, sales, etc.
　　Agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations shall apply agricultural technologies on a voluntary basis, and no entity or individual shall force them to apply such agricultural technology.
　　In promoting agricultural technologies, qualified farmer households, regions and projects shall be selected for application demonstration.

　　Article 23 State agricultural technology promotion institutions at county and township levels shall organize agricultural workers to study agricultural scientific technologies and knowledge in order to improve their ability of applying agricultural technologies.
　　The education, human resources and social security, agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, science and technology and other departments shall support agricultural scientific research units and relevant schools to carry out agriculture technology promotion-related vocational and technical education and training in order to improve the technical ability of the agricultural technology promotion personnel and agricultural workers.
　　The State encourages public involvement in carrying out agricultural technology training.

　　Article 24 The state agricultural technology promotion institutions at all levels shall diligently perform the public duties prescribed in Article 1 of this Law to promote agricultural technologies to agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations, without service charges.
　　Entities and scientific and technical personnel other than the state agricultural technology promotion institutions providing agricultural technologies by means of technology transfer, technical service, technical contracting, technical consulting and technology investment, etc. may charge for such services, and their legal incomes and intellectual properties such as patents on new varieties of plant and agricultural technologies shall be protected by law. When conducting technology transfer, technical services, technical contracting, technical consulting and technology investment, the parties shall enter into a contract to agree on their respective rights and obligations.

　　Article 25 The State encourages and supports farmers' specialized cooperatives and agriculture-related enterprises to provide various forms of technical services to farmers in respect of the application of advanced agricultural technologies.

　　Article 26 The State encourages and supports the constructions of agricultural demonstration areas focused on production of staple foods and characteristic agricultural products, to give to play the leading role of demonstration areas in promoting agricultural technologies, in order to promote the development of agriculture industrialization and modern agriculture.

　　Article 27 The people's governments at all levels may adopt various means such as service procurement to guide civic participation in public agricultural technology promotion services.

　　Chapter IV Safeguard Measures for Agricultural Technology Promotion

　　Article 28 The State shall gradually increase its input in agricultural technology promotion. The people's governments at all levels shall secure funds for agricultural technology promotion in their fiscal budgets and increase such funds each year according to relevant provisions.
　　The people's governments at all levels shall, by the means of financial appropriation and drawing a certain percentage of funds from the agricultural development fund, raise special funds for agricultural technology promotion to implement agricultural technology promotion projects. The central finance shall grant subsidies to key agricultural technology promotion projects.
　　The operating funds of state agricultural technology promotion institutions of counties s and townships shall be determined according to the local service scale and performance and jointly assumed by public finance at all levels.
　　No unit or individual may intercept or misappropriate the funds for agricultural technology promotion.

　　Article 29 The people's governments at all levels shall take measures to ensure and improve working conditions, living conditions and remunerations of the professional technical personnel of state agricultural technology promotion institutions of counties and townships, and provide subsidies to them according to state provisions to maintain the stability of the agricultural technology promotion teams.
　　The determination of titles professional or technical titles of professional technical personnel engaged in promoting agricultural technologies in counties, townships and villages shall be based mainly on their professional technical abilities and actual performance in agricultural technology promotion.

　　Article 30 The people's governments at all levels shall take measures to ensure the state agricultural technology promotion institutions have experiment and demonstration places, office places, promotion and training facilities, and other necessary working conditions.
　　The local people's governments at all levels shall protect the experiment and demonstration places, means of production and other property of state agricultural technology promotion institutions from harm.

　　Article 31 The departments for agricultural technology promotion and state agricultural technology promotion technologies at and above the county level shall provide technical training to agricultural technology promotion personnel and organize them to receive professional further study in a planned manner to make them update their knowledge and improve their abilities and performance.

　　Article 32 The departments for agricultural technology promotion at or above county level and the people's governments at the township level shall oversee and evaluate the performance of public duties of state agricultural technology promotion institutions under their administration.
　　The departments for agricultural technology promotion and state agricultural technology promotion institutions at all levels shall establish a work responsibility system and evaluation system for the professional technical personnel of state agricultural technology promotion institutions.
　　For the performance evaluation, job employment and promotion of personnel of township state agricultural technology promotion institutions mainly managed by the departments for agricultural technology promotion of the people's government at the county level, the opinions of the township people's governments and the receivers of service within their service areas shall be fully solicited.
　　For the performance evaluation, job employment and promotion of personnel of township state agricultural technology promotion institutions mainly managed by the township people's government with the departments for agricultural technology promotion of the people's government at the county level providing service guidance, the opinions of the departments for agricultural technology promotion of the local people's government at the county level and the receivers of service within their service areas shall be fully solicited.

　　Article 33 Any entities engaged in agricultural technology promotion services may enjoy taxation, credit and other preferences as prescribed by the state.

　　Chapter V Legal Liabilities

　　Article 34 Where any relevant department of the people's governments at any level or its personnel fail to perform their duties stipulated in this Law, the direct liable person in charge and other direct liable persons shall be subject to sanctions.

　　Article 35 Where state agricultural technology promotion institutions and their personnel fail to perform their duties stipulated in this Law, they shall be ordered to make corrections and named in a circular of criticism by the competent authorities; the direct liable person in charge and other direct liable persons shall be subject to sanctions in accordance with the law.

　　Article 36 Anyone who, in violation of this Law, promotes agricultural technology which has not been proved after experiment to be advanced, applicable and safe to agricultural workers and agricultural production and operation organizations and causes any losses thereby, shall bear the liability for compensation in accordance with the law.

　　Article 37 Anyone who, in violation of this Law, compels agricultural workers or agricultural production institutions to apply agricultural technologies and causes any losses thereby, shall bear the liability for compensation in accordance with the law.

　　Article 38 In the event of interception or misappropriation of the funds for agricultural technology promotion, the direct liable person in charge and other direct liable persons shall be subject to sanctions in accordance with the law; where a crime has been committed, there shall be investigation for criminal liability.

　　Chapter VI Supplementary Provisions

　　Article 39 This Law shall come into effect on the date of promulgation.