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The International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) members consist of thousands of growers of flowers and ornamental plants around the world who are together united by one essential goal – promoting the place of plants in people’s lives.
AIPH is responsible for approving the world’s most exceptional horticultural expos creating long lasting green legacies in cities across the globe.
AIPH Blooming Economies & Cities to Inspire The World 2.0. Up-to-date statistics from recent Expos hosted in Asia and Europe.
Learn moreAIPH hosts several conferences, webinars and events such as the International Grower of the Year award throughout the year. Read about these along with the latest news about the association’s activities.
The AIPH International Grower of the Year Awards celebrate the best of the best in ornamental horticulture
Learn moreAIPH’s key aim is to stimulate demand for ornamental trees, plants and flowers worldwide. We are committed to supporting growers in achieving this by protecting and promoting the interests of the industry.
The AIPH’s Global Industry Intelligence Centre (GIIC) is an international hub for industry information and knowledge exchange.
The report contains insights on production and consumption of the floriculture industry in Thailand, imports and exports, and business opportunities
DownloadAIPH Green City activities promote the essential role of plants in creating vibrant urban areas in which people and businesses can thrive.
Congratulations to Peter Button, the former Vice Secretary-General of UPOV, who has received a well-deserved UPOV gold medal for his remarkable 23-year journey with the UPOV organisation! The Secretary-General of UPOV, Daren Tang, presented the medal and spoke of Peter’s unwavering dedication and his instrumental role in UPOV’s growth.
Peter’s leadership has been paramount over this significant period, characterised by changing priorities in sustainability, food security and technological advancements. His commitment to innovation, epitomised by the UPOV e-PVP system, underscores his determination to propel UPOV forward. Under Peter’s guidance, the organisation effectively responded to evolving needs, witnessing an expansion in membership and services. His expertise, humility, and integrity have fostered a close-knit UPOV community.
The entire UPOV team, members and observers wish Peter all the best as he embarks on his next journey!
At the same time, UPOV members and observers are pleased to congratulate Yolanda Huerta, now Vice Secretary-General of UPOV, Martin Ekvad, the new Director of Legal Affairs at UPOV and Leontino Taveira, the new Director of Global Development and Technical Affairs with their start this UPOV week in their new functions.
Introduction
International cooperation, as well as coherence in the relevant legislative, administrative and policy measures concerning the CBD, ITPGRFA and the UPOV Convention in the contracting parties concerned, is beneficial for achieving the desired outcomes of those treaties, notably in relation to sustainable agriculture and food security in the context of climate change and land degradation as well as the conservation of biodiversity, access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits from their utilisation.
The ITPGFRA does not affect the ornamental sector since ornamentals are not a resource for food and agriculture. The CBD doesn’t either (at least in the EU), since AIPH succeeded -in cooperation with CIOPORA- by lobbying in Brussels that CBD would not affect commercial plant varieties.
Nevertheless, this document gives a clear clarification about the complementarity between the three international agreements. Especially from the sustainability and biodiversity perspective, it is relevant to understand how the three conventions relate to each other.
Overall Policy on Plant Variety Protection:
Growth of the UPOV system
The reports published in 2022 revealed that 2021 was a record year for plant variety protection, with the following milestones surpassed for the first time:
• 25,000 applications (12 per cent increase)
• 15,000 titles granted (9 per cent increase)
• 150,000 titles in force (9 per cent increase)
More than 56% (187,190) of all titles granted under the UPOV system (331,078) are no longer in force, which means that the varieties concerned are now available without any restrictions in the territories concerned. The recent increase in number of applications and titles granted resulted from strong growth in the Asian region, notably in China, which accounted for 42% of all applications in UPOV members in 2021.
Analysis by crop indicates that the proportion of applications and title grants for agricultural crops has increased substantially over the last ten years, while that of ornamentals has experienced a significant decline. In 2012, almost half of all applications and titles granted were for ornamentals, whereas ornamentals represented less than one-third in 2022.
UPOV Strategic Business Plan
The growth in the UPOV system was an important consideration in the Strategic Business Plan (SBP) for the period 2023-2027, which was adopted by the Council in 2022. The SBP Strategy House outlines UPOV’s Mission, Strategic Pillars and Foundation, providing a framework to respond to the need for an effective system of plant variety protection that will encourage the development of new varieties of plants for the benefit of society.
Services to the Union for Enhancing the Effectiveness of the UPOV System
UPOV e-PVP initiative
The SBP explains that developments in IT, combined with the establishment of the post of UPOV IT Officer, have enabled UPOV to develop the UPOV e-PVP initiative, which presents an opportunity to provide services to members of the Union in a way which will improve the efficiency of the global UPOV system and achieve a “levelling-up” across UPOV. UPOV e-PVP will provide coherent and comprehensive assistance in implementing the UPOV system of plant variety protection, as well as some or all of the components that could be used by members of the Union, as considered appropriate.
UPOV PRISMA
The number of applications made via UPOV PRISMA in 2022 was 1,907, compared with the number in 2021 of 2,508. This indicates underlying growth, taking into account a one-off peak of about 800 applications in June 2021. This peak resulted from a transition period in accordance with the withdrawal agreement of the United Kingdom from the European Union. Under this transition period, for a Community Plant Variety Rights application made by 31 December 2020 but not yet decided by the EU Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO), applications for plant breeders’ rights made in the United Kingdom within six months of 31 December 2020, were given the same priority date as the Community Plant Variety Rights application.
The complete UPOV PERFORMANCE REPORT 2022 (including statistics) can be found here.
Aims and objectives
Biological diversity or ‘biodiversity’ is the term used to describe the variety of all living organisms and includes diversity within species, between species, and in ecosystems. Biodiversity underpins all human activity, notably including agriculture and, therefore, food security.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has three objectives: the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components of biodiversity and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources.
A supplementary agreement to the CBD, the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from the utilisation elaborates on the Convention’s provisions on access to genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and benefit-sharing in order to contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
The objectives of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture are the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use, in harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, for sustainable agriculture and food security. The International Treaty relates to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
The Treaty aims to recognise the enormous contributions of farmers to the diversity of crops that feed the world, establishing a global system to provide farmers, plant breeders and scientists with access to plant genetic materials, ensuring that recipients share the benefits they derive from the use of these genetic materials.
UPOV’s mission 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.
Synergies between biodiversity, sustainable agriculture and plant breeding
Conservation of biodiversity depends on sustainable agriculture and a halt or reversal to the expansion of agricultural land, while there are parallel demands on agricultural land for food and energy production. This means that there is a need to produce more from existing agricultural land in a sustainable way. Conversely, sustainable agriculture is dependent on the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, in particular by ensuring healthy soils and thriving populations of pollinators to achieve fertile crops, among other things.
By encouraging the development of new varieties of plants, the UPOV system encourages the sustainable use of biodiversity while creating new genetic diversity. New plant varieties with improved yield, more efficient use of nutrients, resistance to plant pests and diseases, salt and drought tolerance and better adaptation to climatic stress, according to the needs and preferences of farmers and consumers, can sustainably increase productivity and product quality in agriculture, horticulture and forestry. These attributes can reduce the pressure on the natural environment and biodiversity by reducing the need for inputs while reducing the area of land needed for agriculture. Plant breeding sustainably uses biological diversity and relies on the conservation of biodiversity to develop new varieties that deliver substantial benefits for farmers and society as a whole.
The critical importance of biodiversity to agriculture is recognised in the CBD, and the Nagoya Protocol acknowledges the importance of genetic resources for food and agriculture and their special role in food security. The recognition of the importance of crop and genetic diversity for sustainable agriculture and food security is central to the objectives of the ITPGRFA.
Benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources
By encouraging plant breeding, the UPOV system incentivises the generation of benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources. In addition, the “breeder’s exemption” in the UPOV Convention enables plant diversity in the form of protected plant varieties to be available for further breeding activities because acts done using such varieties for the purpose of breeding other varieties are not subject to any restriction by the breeder. This reflects the fact that access to protected varieties contributes to sustaining the greatest progress in plant breeding and, thereby, maximising the use of genetic resources for the benefit of society.
The CBD, Nagoya Protocol and ITPGRFA establish the requirements and mechanisms for the sharing of benefits arising out of the utilisation of genetic resources. In relation to the breeder’s exemption, a recipient of material from the Multilateral System of the ITPGRFA who commercialises a product that is available without restriction to others for further research and breeding is not obliged, but it is encouraged to contribute to the benefit-sharing fund of the ITPGRFA.
Legislation in Contracting Parties
International cooperation, as well as coherence in the relevant legislative, administrative and policy measures concerning the CBD, ITPGRFA and the UPOV Convention in the Contracting Parties concerned, is beneficial for achieving the desired outcomes of those treaties, notably in relation to sustainable agriculture and food security in the context of climate change and land degradation as well as the conservation of biodiversity, access to genetic resources and the sharing of benefits from their utilisation.
To refresh the discussion: New Breeding or Genetic Technologies (NGT) currently enable both single and multiple modifications of an initial variety in one act of derivation in a short period. This has the potential to undermine the protection of the initial variety; therefore, it is desirable that a sufficiently broad interpretation of the UPOV Essentially Derived Variety (EDV) Principle is agreed upon between UPOV members.
In the recent UPOV yearly meeting week, the Council adopted the new Explanatory Notes on Essentially Derived Varieties, which will replace the current EXN from 2017. The new EXN opens the door for a broader interpretation of the EDV principle by making clear that an EDV does not necessarily have to retain all essential characteristics of its Initial Variety. An EDV can have more than one or a few differences compared to the Initial Variety, including differences in essential characteristics. Colour mutations and mutations resulting from New Breeding Techniques can now be considered to be EDV. This interpretation is supported by the majority of the UPOV members as well as by the entire breeding community.
As you might remember, the discussion in the working group on the Explanatory Note (EXN) on EDV stalled. Therefore, the discussion was continued in UPOV’s Consultative Committee (CC), in which only member states participate and not the observers of UPOV.
In the last half year, the members of the CC did create an opening in this less successful discussion: the CC proposed a new concept of the EXN EDV (dated August 29) to UPOV’s Council to be voted on in the Council meeting on October 27, 2023. The CC decided to remove everything from the text in the former draft EXN on EDV (dated 2017) that could lead to controversy. Think of the proposals in the 2017 draft that a substantial improvement would lead to a new independent variety and that there may be only one or a very small number of differences to qualify as an EDV. Regarding the latter, the new draft states (see §19) that the number of differences between an EDV and the initial variety is not limited by UPOV EDV article (14(5)(b)(iii)) to one or very few differences but may vary taking into account different methods of derivation.
In the now-accepted EXN by UPOV’s Council, the breeders’ world has not received the clarity in the EDV they strongly asked for. On the other hand, they asked not to accept the EXN 2017 concept, as they stated that this version would create even more confusion in the industry. So, the acceptance of the EXN August 2023 concept still brings relief.
However, to be able to define that a new variety is essentially derived from your initial variety, yes or no; it becomes somewhat necessary for a breeder to record and be able to demonstrate how he has bred his variety (by traditional crossing process or new breeding techniques?). This information becomes important to prove if the new variety for which the PBR is asked is derived from the breeder’s already existing initial variety.
Finally, because one of the CC members raised very principled questions and objections at the last minute in the CC meeting (24 October 2023), the entire discussion was in danger of being conducted again. These objections have been countered with the necessary management skills by the chairman by agreeing that UPOV will annually reflect on possible procedures, developments and comments regarding EDV from the sector. This is in the belief that this allows UPOV to monitor the operation of the new explanatory note on EDV.
Besides Harvested Material, the WG-HRV works on the Explanatory Notes (EXN) of ‘Propagating Material’ and ‘Provisional Protection’ as well. To avoid any misunderstanding, WG-HRV focuses on the EXN concerning the mentioned plant variety principles, not on the concerned UPOV 1991 Convention articles itself. The UPOV observers hoped that, as long as there is no agreement on the HRV EXN, the other two EXNs would remain pending as well. Surprisingly, the ‘EXN on Propagating Material under the UPOV Convention’ (UPOV/EXN/PPM/1) was agreed on in the WG-HRV and will be proposed to the CAJ at its next meeting in October 2024. AIPH had hoped first to carry out the intended study (in the recent half-year report, the SPG was informed about this study) to assist the WG’s deliberations on Article 14 (1) and (2) of the 1991 Act (Scope of the Breeder’s Right, including the HRV notions of “unauthorised use” and “reasonable opportunity”) in the relationship with the “Exhaustion of the Breeder’s Right” in Article 16 of the 1991 Act, based on an analysis of the Records of the 1991 Act Diplomatic Conference and its preparatory work. Since, in these deliberations, the difference between propagating and harvested material will also play an important role, AIPH had proposed to wait for the study results before any agreement on the EXN on propagating material. Unfortunately, this was not found to be the case. (See note 1)
Meanwhile, the WG members were able to propose experts for this study. (See note 2 for the expert proposals). Next step: the Office of the Union will propose the basis of the study (based on the replies received), including terms of reference, timeline, and author (s) for consideration by the WG-HRV at its next meeting (Thursday, 21 March 2024, hybrid). In the corridors, AIPH lobbied for the participation of Huib Ghijsen in the expert group.
Note 1:
For those of the SPG members who are interested in the full details of the EXN on Propagating Material, view this link.
In a nutshell, the EXN lists factors that have been considered in relation to propagating material. The UPOV Convention does not provide a definition of “propagating material”. The EXN does not either but states propagating material encompasses reproductive and vegetative propagating material. The EXN gives non-exhaustive examples of factors, one or more of which could be used to decide whether material is propagating material. Those factors should be considered in the context of each member of the Union and the particular circumstances. These formulations give so much space that no problems in PBR cases are expected.
Note 2:
Members of the WG-HRV proposed the following Experts:
Australia – Charles Lawson
Brazil- Rodrigo Dolabella and Vivianne Kunisawa
European Union – Axel Metzger, Sven Bostyn, Pilar Montero and a professor from the Max Planck Institute (no name proposed)
Japan – Joseph Strauss
AIPH – Huib Ghijsen, as part of a team
