Plant variety protection-also known as PVP, is a legal system that grants breeders exclusive rights over a defined period to control the production and commercialization of their new plant varieties, encouraging continuous breeding and innovation.
The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) is an international organization with the mandate of providing an international effective system for plant variety protection.
Frequently asked questions
New plant varieties bring higher yields, better quality, and are resistant to plant pests and diseases. They are also an important means of responding to the challenges of a growing and increasingly urbanized population, climate change, parallel demands for food and energy production and evolving human needs.
There are no restrictions on who can be considered to be a breeder under the UPOV system: a breeder might be an individual, a farmer, a researcher, a public institute, a private company etc.
However, only the breeder of a new plant variety can protect that new plant variety.
The conditions for obtaining plant variety protection are defined in the UPOV Convention and can be explained in simple terms as follows:
- Novelty: The variety is considered new if not commercialized for more than one year in the UPOV member where the application for plant variety protection is filed; or more than four years in other UPOV members (up to six years in the case of trees and vines).
- Distinctness: This is when the variety is clearly distinguishable from other varieties in any country of the same species.
- Uniformity: When all the plants grown look sufficiently similar under the same growing conditions, this is considered uniform.
- Stability: All the plants look the same after repeated propagation.
IMAGE: LOREM IPSUM
Distinctness
This is when the variety is clearly distinguishable from other varieties in any country of the same species.
IMAGE: LOREM IPSUM
Uniformity
When all the plants grown look sufficiently similar under the same growing conditions, this is considered uniform.
IMAGE: LOREM IPSUM
Stability
All the plants look the same after repeated propagation.
In addition to compliance with the above conditions of protection, a variety also needs a suitable denomination. This variety denomination should be the same in all UPOV members.