BEIJING -- China on Thursday unveiled revised regulations to strengthen the protection of rights to new plant varieties and to encourage innovation in the seed industry.

Premier Li Qiang has signed a State Council decree to promulgate the new regulations, which are set to take effect on June 1.

New plant varieties refer to those that are artificially bred or developed from discovered wild plants, characterized by novelty, distinctness, uniformity and stability, and assigned an appropriate denomination, according to the regulations.

Like patents, copyrights and trademarks, rights to new plant varieties fall under the category of intellectual property rights.

The new regulations include stipulations on implementing the Essentially Derived Variety (EDV) system, specifying that authorities will release the EDV implementation scope and assessment guidelines and clarify the conditions required for testing bodies.

The protection period for woody and vine plants has been extended from 20 to 25 years, and for other plants from 15 to 20 years.

China implemented regulations on the protection of new varieties of plants in 1997. This marks the third revision of the regulations.