UPOV International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants website
UPOV International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants website: http://www.upov.int
Official website of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV): http://www.upov.int. Founded in 1961 under the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, UPOV is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Its core mission is to establish and promote an effective plant variety protection system to stimulate global breeding innovation, safeguard food security and advance sustainable agricultural development.
UPOV’s core mechanism is the breeder’s right, an intellectual property right granted only to new plant varieties that meet the DUS criteria: Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability. It regulates commercial utilization of propagating materials of protected varieties. The union currently has 80 members covering 99 states, receiving over 562,370 plant variety protection applications. It has issued 341 standardized test guidelines to unify global DUS examination standards.
UPOV provides digital tools including PRISMA for online PVP applications, PLUTO plant variety database and e-PVP Exchange for DUS report sharing. It regularly holds technical, legal and administrative committee meetings to coordinate international rules, and launches seminars and certification training programs. By harmonizing global plant variety protection frameworks, UPOV facilitates the breeding of high-yield and climate-resilient crop varieties, bringing long-term benefits to farmers and the whole agricultural sector worldwide.
