International Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV)

HISTORY AND PRESENT STATUS

The purposes of the UPOV Convention are to oblige member states of the Union to recognise and secure to breeders of new plant varieties an industrial property right (plant breeder's right), to harmonise such rights and to encourage cooperation between member states in their administration of such rights.

South Africa became the tenth member of UPOV on 6 November 1977.

OTHER DEPARTMENTS AND COOPERATING ORGANISATIONS

The responsible technical department is the Department of Agriculture.

GENERAL COMMENTS

By becoming a member of UPOV, South Africa acquired the right to issue plant breeder's rights for new varieties of plants. Varieties that are bred overseas can now also be protected locally. This is important for South Africa for various reasons, including the following:

The local plant breeding industry is relatively small in comparison with the rest of the world. South Africa is only self-sufficient as far as the breeding of maize, sorghum, sunflower, soya beans and groundnuts is concerned. Whilst some breeding is also done on fruit crops, grapes and vegetables, this is minimal and South Africa is heavily dependent on obtaining new varieties from overseas.

New varieties are essential as varieties are continuously being developed with better yield, disease resistance, shelf life, transportability, etc.

Overseas markets are very sensitive and it is important to export only the varieties of products which are in demand e.g. seedless white grapes.

Because of the high cost involved in plant breeding, virtually all varieties are protected by plant breeders' rights. If South Africa was not a member of UPOV, it could not protect such varieties by granting plant breeders' rights, and these varieties would not be available to South Africa.

The ability of South Africa to grant plant breeders' rights, has also served as an incentive for local companies to undertake breeding programmes. Many millions of rands have been invested by these local companies in breeding programmes, especially in the most important agricultural crops such as maize, grain sorghum, soya beans and groundnuts.