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Evaluation of the EU legislation on plant variety rights

Food safety

This evaluation aims to assess the EU legislation on plant variety rights. These are a type of intellectual property rights for the industrial protection of plant varieties. An operator who breeds a plant variety can be granted such rights under certain conditions. These rights would allow a return on the investment in breeding. This system aims to stimulate the continued breeding of improved varieties. The findings of this evaluation will help consider whether a revision of this legislation is required.

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Public consultation

ID: 14037

Lobbying Activity

27 responses

European farmers urge preservation of plant variety rights

European farmers, 14 Mar 2025

The organization calls for maintaining the current plant variety system and seed reuse rights. They want the list of permitted crops updated and strongly oppose plant patenting.
Maintaining these exemptions allows farmers to keep costs low by avoiding expensive patent royalties.
Large biotech firms lose potential licensing revenue and exclusive control over proprietary seed genetics.

European agri-cooperatives urge protection of plant variety rights

European agri-cooperatives, 14 Mar 2025

The organization demands the preservation of the current system allowing farmers to reuse seeds from their harvests. They advocate for free access to protected varieties for research while strongly opposing the patenting of plants.
This protects farmers from expensive patent costs and ensures access to affordable crop varieties.
Large seed companies are restricted from using patents to dominate the agricultural market.

BASF backs update of EU plant variety protection rules

BASF SE, 14 Mar 2025

BASF supports evaluating the system to ensure alignment with international standards regarding derived varieties and harvested material. They also suggest fine-tuning technical topics like the novelty of parental lines and confidentiality.
Updated rules would simplify operations and better protect their significant breeding investments.
Farmers could face tighter restrictions on their ability to use farm-saved seeds.

Bayer Seeks Stronger Plant Variety Rights and Farm Seed Restrictions

Bayer AG, 14 Mar 2025

Bayer requests stronger protections for essentially-derived varieties aligned with UPOV guidance, rebalancing of farm-saved seed compensation where usage reaches 50% of planted areas, and expansion of distinctness criteria to include disease resistance and nutritional traits developed through new genomic techniques.
This would protect their breeding investments and enable royalties from NGT innovations currently unprotectable.
Farmers lose affordable seed reuse rights as compensation costs could rise significantly.

German farmers urge EU to protect plant variety rights

Deutscher Bauernverband, 14 Mar 2025

The association wants to maintain the plant variety protection system and opposes plant patents. They demand that farmers retain the right to reuse seeds from their own harvest.
This protects regional seed diversity and prevents high costs associated with proprietary plant patents.
Companies seeking plant patents lose the ability to restrict seed use and collective innovation.

Coldiretti urges EU to exclude NGTs from patenting

Confederazione Nazionale Coldiretti, 14 Mar 2025

Coldiretti supports farm-saved seeds and strongly opposes patents for New Genomic Techniques. They want NGTs excluded from patenting to prevent farmer dependency on multinationals. They also suggest expanding the list of plant species exempt from variety rights.
Farmers would avoid high costs and the need for multiple licenses for genetic traits.
Large seed developers lose the ability to control genetic innovations through exclusive patents.

Federation of Swedish Farmers defends open-source plant breeding rights

Lantbrukarnas Riksförbund, 14 Mar 2025

The organization opposes plant patenting to protect innovation and the open-source nature of breeding. They demand the retention of full exemptions for researchers and farmers who save their own seeds.
This protects the ability of farmers and breeders to access and reuse plant varieties.
Large biotech companies seeking patent protections would lose exclusive control over genetic traits.

Euroseeds demands updated laws to protect plant breeding innovation

Euroseeds, 13 Mar 2025

Euroseeds wants farmers to pay higher royalties for seeds saved on-farm. They also propose stricter definitions to prevent new technologies from copying original varieties.
Strengthened enforcement would secure better financial returns on their expensive research and development.
Farmers would face higher costs and increased administrative burdens for saving seeds.

Dutch growers and farmers urge modernization of plant variety rights

Glastuinbouw Nederland, 14 Mar 2025

The organizations seek modernization of the legislation to improve enforcement of farm-saved seed rules and protect perennial crops. They request a harmonized definition of essentially derived varieties and the establishment of centralized plant variety protection courts. They also argue that plant variety rights should take precedence over patents to ensure breeders can access genetic material for innovation.
This would protect breeders' business models and ensure farmers have access to resilient plant varieties.
Patent holders lose exclusive control over genetic traits, preventing them from creating farmer dependencies.

KWS Urges Stronger Intellectual Property Protections for Breeders

KWS SAAT SE Co. KGaA, 13 Mar 2025

KWS seeks updated laws to ensure breeders receive fair returns on research investments. They demand mandatory reporting on farm-saved seeds without needing prior evidence of use. The group requests clearer rules to prevent new technologies from copying original plant varieties.
Stricter royalty rules and reporting would increase KWS's financial returns on plant innovations.
Farmers would face higher costs and more paperwork when reusing their own seeds.

German agricultural cooperatives seek uniform EU plant variety rules

Deutscher Raiffeisenverband e.V., 14 Mar 2025

DRV requests closing legal gaps regarding royalty payments between farmers and breeders. They advocate for a uniform European solution to ensure a level playing field.
Standardized rules would remove the high bureaucratic burden currently facing grain traders.
Farmers may face more direct enforcement and stricter monitoring of royalty payments.

ARCHE NOAH demands stronger rights for farmers to save seeds

ARCHE NOAH, Gesellschaft für die Erhaltung der Kulturpflanzenvielfalt und ihre Entwicklung, 14 Mar 2025

The organization calls for the full implementation of farmers' rights to save, exchange, and sell seeds of all species. They demand explicit exemptions for conservation activities and strong safeguards against the misappropriation of traditional varieties.
This would allow their conservation networks to operate without intellectual property barriers.
Large seed companies would lose revenue from mandatory royalties on farm-saved seeds.

Plantum urges EU to strengthen plant variety rights protections

Plantum, 13 Mar 2025

Plantum calls for stricter enforcement of farm-saved seed rules and a clearer framework for determining essentially derived varieties. They also suggest extending protection durations and establishing specialized courts to harmonize the system.
Stronger intellectual property rules would help breeders recover high costs and protect biotechnology innovations.
Farmers using saved seeds would face tougher enforcement and stricter reporting obligations.

Consultation response

Inari Agriculture NV, 14 Mar 2025

Inari is thankful for the opportunity to provide input in the context of the evaluation on the implementation of the European Unions Community Plant Variety Right Regulation 2100/941 (CPVR Regulation) and the operation of the Community Plant Variety Protection Office (CPVO). A document with our…

Consultation response

All European Academies e.V., 11 Mar 2025

The patentability of food-related technologies and products is a sensitive issue, and some stakeholders therefore consider a different legal treatment of such patents or the patentability of such products to be appropriate. An overview of what the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and…

Consultation response

SEMAE, 11 Mar 2025

SEMAE is the French recognised interbranch organisation for seed according to regulation 1308/2013. France is the leading EU producer and global exporter of agricultural seeds. France has 67 cooperatives, family-owned or large companies active in breeding. This is linked to the development in the…

Consultation response

Bundesverband Deutscher Pflanzenzüchter e.V., 7 Mar 2025

Der Bundesverband Deutscher Pflanzenzüchter e. V. (BDP) bündelt seit mehr als 75 Jahren die Interessen seiner 130 Mitglieder, bei denen es sich um landwirtschaftliche und gartenbauliche Züchtungs- und Handelsunternehmen in Deutschland handelt. Die vornehmlich klein und mittelständisch geprägte…

Consultation response

European Mobile Seed Association, 13 Mar 2025

Le règlement européen sur la protection des obtentions végétales (PVR) est un instrument crucial pour équilibrer l'innovation dans la sélection végétale avec les intérêts des agriculteurs et la résilience européenne. Au coeur de ce règlement, "afin de sauvegarder la production agricole" à l'article…

Consultation response

CIOPORA, 12 Mar 2025

Dear Sir, Madam, CIOPORA represents the interests of companies involved in the breeding of asexually reproduced horticultural varieties, IP-management companies, and IP-specialists. We are included in the Transparency Register of the EU, No. 834378913628-15. CIOPORA very much appreciates that the…

Consultation response

OGM dangers, 17 Feb 2025

Bonjour, Notre association défend les droits des paysans, mais aussi ceux des (petits) semenciers. Le travail du semencier doit être rémunéré, mais cela ne doit pas se faire au détriment de la rémunération du paysan. Nous considérons que l'exemption de l'article 14 du réglement 94/2100 (comme…

Consultation response

Dachverband Kulturpflanzen- und Nutztiervielfalt e.V., 14 Mar 2025

The UMBRELLA ASSOCIATION ON CULTIVATED PLANT AND LIVESTOCK BREED DIVERSITY has 25 member organisations in German speaking countries and works for the development of legal and policy frameworks supportive to on-farm diversity conservation since 2009. ---- We note with great worries that intellectual…

Consultation response

DER AGRARHANDEL - Bundesverband Agrarhandel und Verein der Getreidehändler der Hamburger Börse e.V., 14 Mar 2025

DER AGRARHANDEL represents the interests of the agricultural trade in Germany. Its member companies supply the agricultural sector with seeds, pesticides, fertilizers and animal feed. They collect agricultural raw materials such as grain and oilseeds nationwide and market them as food and animal…

Consultation response

ProSpecieRara, 14 Mar 2025

Call for evidence EU PVP ; Input by APBREBES and ProSpecieRara 30 years have passed since the adoption of Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 of 27 July 1994 on Community plant variety rights. In particular, the debate on Farmers' Rights has evolved considerably during this period (ITPGRFA, UNDROP).…

Consultation response

Union française des semenciers, 13 Mar 2025

Le règlement 2100/94 fixe le cadre règlementaire concernant le certificat dobtention végétale (COV) en intégrant la dernière version de la convention UPOV de 1991. LUnion française des semenciers (UFS) soutient ce projet de révision sous réserve que lobjectif soit le maintien de la philosophie du…

Consultation response

Asociación Nacional de Obtentores Vegetales, 13 Mar 2025

ANOVE (Asociación Nacional de Obtentores Vegetales, www.anove.es) is the national association representing the interests of the entire Spanish plant breeding sector. The entire plant breeding sector represented by ANOVE highly values the current European legislation on plant variety protection.…

Consultation response

The Plant Variety Development Office CLG, 11 Mar 2025

PVDO CLG is very happy to see this review take place - it will mean the EU will protect and promote developments in plant breeding through their support of PBR. It is obvious on a practical ground level that strong enforceable PBR legislation deters the infringement of PBR and so protects the…

Consultation response

, 9 Mar 2025

Der Verband Bayerischer Pflanzenzüchter e.V. (VBP) bündelt seit mehr als 100 Jahren die Interessen der Pflanzenzüchter in Bayern. Derzeit sind im VBP 19 Züchter und Vertriebsorganisationen von Getreide, Kartoffeln, Futterpflanzen (Gräser, Klee/Luzerne), Mais, Sojabohnen und Zwischenfrüchten…