New Delhi, July 29: Government today introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha, proposing to levy a cess up to three percent on exports of Basmati to create a new fund for its intellectual property protection. The bill piloted by Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley seeks to amend the APEDA Act, 1985, and the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Cess Act, 1985.

Under the APEDA (amendment) Bill, a separate category of "special products" is proposed to be created in which Basmati will be listed and the cess up to three percent will be used to create a special export development fund.

They said the three percent cess on fob value of exports will translate into more than Rs 900 per tonne against the existing cess on Basmati exports of only Rs 60 per tonne. The amount in the existing BDF (basmati development fund) of around Rs 25 crore will be transferred to the new fund, the sources said.

The fund is aimed at undertaking special export promotion efforts for agricultural products such as Basmati rice with regards to which attempts are being made by foreign rice producers to obtain intellectual property rights, Jaitley said while moving the bill.

The proposed fund will help APEDA (agricultural products and processed food export development authority) undertake the special efforts, he said.

Such contributions have helped APEDA so far contest 36 cases in 21 countries involving registration of trade marks and grant of patents. Bureau Report