KYODO NEWS - Apr 17, 2020 - 16:35 | All, Japan

The Japanese parliament enacted legislation Friday to boost protection of the genetic materials of wagyu beef cattle, such as fertilized eggs and semen, amid concern over illegal breeding efforts overseas on the back of the growing popularity of the premium beef.

The new legislation will crack down on the smuggling and improper trading of the cattle's genetic materials, protected as "intellectual property," that have been carefully developed through years of selective breeding,

It will allow local animal husbandry laboratories and other entities in Japan to seek injunctions against the unauthorized trading or improper procurement of semen.

Flouting contracts that restrict wagyu genetic material to domestic use could lead to prison terms of up to 10 years or maximum fines of up to 10 million yen ($92,000) for individuals and up to 300 million yen for businesses.

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The Japanese parliament will soon revise another law on the improvement of livestock production to enable the tracing of illegal transactions and the tightening of controls on the distribution of wagyu genetic materials.

The revised law will oblige people to write down on containers of wagyu semen the name of the cattle and when it was collected. Buyers' names will also have to be recorded by sellers.

The new law was enacted after an attempt to smuggle wagyu fertilized eggs and sperm to China in 2018. Exports of the Japanese premium beef to China are expected to officially begin later this year.

Japan previously had no laws banning people from taking wagyu genetic materials overseas. The country's farm ministry had been concerned that illegal breeding overseas using smuggled genetic materials would undermine the premium beef's brand.

The country's beef exports including wagyu soared more than sevenfold to 24.7 billion yen in 2018 from 3.4 billion yen in 2010.