Geneva, Switzerland
October 29, 2015

The Council of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) held its forty-ninth ordinary session on October 29, 2015.

Round-up of key developments:

Examination of the conformity of the “Act of Plant Varieties Registration, Control and Certification of Seeds
and Plant Materials of 2003” of the Islamic Republic of Iran with the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention

The Council recommended that the Islamic Republic of Iran incorporate certain additional provisions and amendments in the “Act of Plant Varieties Registration, Control And Certification of Seeds And Plant Materials of 2003”, and recommended that once the additional provisions and amendments had been incorporated in the Law, the amended Law should be submitted to the Council for examination in conformity with Article 34(3) of the 1991 Act.

Program and Budget of the Union for the 2016-2017 Biennium

The Council approved the Program and Budget for the 2016-2017 biennium, amounting to 6,823,000 Swiss francs, representing a 0.4% increase on the 2014-2015 biennium (6,794,000 Swiss francs). This budget contains no change in the value of the contribution unit by members of the Union and no change in the total number of posts for the Office of the Union.

Plant Variety Protection Statistics

A total of 59 members of the Union now offer protection to all plant genera and species (58 in 2014), with 14 members of the Union offering protection to a limited number of plant genera and species. Of those 14, two members (Brazil and Morocco) extended protection to additional plant genera and species in 2015. 

The Council noted that, in 2014, the number of applications in UPOV members had exceeded 15,000 for the first time. There was a 4.8 percent increase in the number of applications for plant variety protection (15,499 in 2014; 14,788 in 2013), comprising a 2.8 percent increase in the number of applications by residents (9,770 in 2014; 9,502 in 2013) and an 8.4 percent increase in the number of applications by non-residents (5,729 in 2014; 5,286 in 2013). The number of titles granted increased from 10,052 in 2013 to 11,569 in 2014 (15.1 percent increase).

The total of 106,081 titles in force in 2014 represented a 2.7 percent increase on figures for 2013 (103,261).

Cooperation in the Examination of New Plant Varieties

In 2015, the number of plant genera and species for which there were agreements between members of the Union for cooperation in the examination of distinctness, uniformity and stability totaled 2,002, compared to 2,005 in 2014.

Full release

Website: http://www.upov.int

Published: October 29, 2015