The Government of Canada deposited its instrument of ratification of the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants on June 19, 2015.
The purpose of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) is to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection, with the aim of encouraging the development of new varieties of plants, for the benefit of society.
Canada, which is already one of the seventy-two members of UPOV, is the fifty-third member to become bound by the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention. The 1991 Act will enter into force for Canada on July 19, 2015, one month after the deposit of its instrument of ratification.
In order to be granted breeder’s rights, the variety in question must be shown to be new. This means that the plant variety cannot have previously been available for more than one year in the applicant’s country, or for more than four years in any other country or territory. The variety must also be distinct, that is, easily distinguishable through certain characteristics from any other known variety (protected or otherwise). The other two criteria, uniformity and stability, mean that individual plants of the new variety must show no more variation in the relevant characteristics than one would naturally expect to see, and that future generations of the variety through various propagation means must continue to show the relevant distinguishing characteristics.
Source: UPOV
