International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) has welcomed the very recent Royal Assent for changes to Plant Breeders’ Rights (PBR) in Canada.
The legislation in Bill C-18, an Act to Amend Certain Acts Relating to Agriculture and Agri-Food, received Royal Assent on 27 February 2015 and puts Canada on a global level playing field for Plant Breeders Rights.
AIPH member, the Canadian Ornamental Horticulture Alliance (COHA), an alliance of Nursery and Floriculture sectors across Canada, is the largest user of this act and the PBR Office in Ottawa and they worked hard to achieve this success for the industry.With this news the Alliance will now be able to extend invitations to its international breeders of new plant materials to ship their new products to Canada for distribution, confident that these plant materials are well protected. These changes will bring increased investment into new varieties for the breeders internationally and encourage similar investment and research into new varieties domestically and for export.
Tim Briercliffe, AIPH Secretary General, comments: “Since the AIPH Congress was held in Canada in 2013 we have been assisting COHA through the AIPH Novelty Protection Committee. We are very pleased that Canada have adopted UPOV 1991, joining many other countries in a joint commitment to protect the rights of plant breeders. International co-operation on subjects like this helps highlight the benefits to the industry of their growers and trade organisations working together within AIPH”.
