Plant breeders' rights

Are you a plant breeder and have you bred a new plant species? When you obtain plant breeders' rights, others may not imitate this plant species without your permission.

You can obtain plant breeders’ rights for the Netherlands and throughout the European Union (Community Plant Variety Rights).

Please note: an agricultural or vegetable variety can be marketed in the EU if it is listed in at least 1 Member State of the EU. You can find these varieties in the national variety register (NRR).

Requirements for plant breeders' rights

Your cultivation material must comply with requirements on novelty, distinctness, homogeneity, and stability. It must also carry a proper name. You can protect the use of cultivation material for reproductive purposes in the case of ornamental plants.

Apply for national plant breeders' rights

You can apply for national plant breeders' rights to the Board for Plant Varieties (Raad voor plantenrassen). The Netherlands Inspection Service for Horticulture Naktuinbouw will then conduct a DUS testing on behalf of the Board for Plant Varieties to determine whether your plant variety meets the requirements. This research takes between 1 and 3 years. The application for plant breeders’ rights costs money.

If you are granted plant breeders’ rights, you will have these rights for 25 or 30 years, depending on the type of variety.

Apply for European plant breeders' rights

You can also apply for European plant breeders’ rights (Community plant variety rights, for the entire EU) to the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO). You can apply digitally or on paper with the application form.

Once you have gained EU Community plant variety rights, you can no longer apply for national plant variety rights. Do you already have national plant variety rights? Then they will become dormant once you are granted EU Community plant variety rights. For EU Community plant variety rights you have to pay a fee.

To submit and manage your application you can also use the UPOV PRISMA application tool to help you submit and manage your application.