2104 No. 53 Amendment of ,section 8 of 'Cap.326. Insertion of new section 8A in Cap. 326. Seeds and Plant Varieties (Amendment) 2012 6. Section 8 of the principal Act is amended in subsection (4) by deleting the words "agro ecological value" and substituting therefor the words "value for cultivation and Use". 7. The principal Act is amended by inserting the following new section immediately after section 8— Maintenance of national plant variety list. 8A. (1) The Service shall cause the preparation of a national plant varieties list which shall comprise the names of plant varieties released for commercialization. (2) The Service shall maintain and update the national varieties list and shall cause its publication in the Gazette and in such other manner as to afford access to it by members of the public. Amendment of section 9 of Cap. 326. 8. Section 9 of the principal Act is amended— (a) by deleting subsection (1) and substituting therefor the following new subsection— (1) The Minister may, in consultation with representatives of such organizations as he deems to have a substantial relevant interest in the matter to be regulated, make regulations for the carrying out of national performance trials, and may by order apply such regulations to any class of plant varieties within the national varieties list and to any new varieties in that class. (b) by deleting subsection (2) and substituting therefor the following new subsection— (2) For the purposes of this section, a plant shall be deemed to be a new plant variety if it was not on the national variety list on the date of the coming into operation of an order under subsection (1), unless it had been exempted under subsection (3).