Georgia is Celebrating an Anniversary of Accession to the UPOV Convention

Today Georgia is celebrating the 13th anniversary of membership of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

UPOV is the union established in accordance with the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and the basic direction of its activity is harmonization of requirements of current legislations in the field of protection of new varieties of plants and rendering methodological and technical assistance for this purpose.

As Ms. Manana Pruidze, Acting Chairperson, of Sakpatenti noted in the anniversary address, “UPOV membership advantages for Georgia are greater breeding activities in Georgia, increased number of new varieties, availability of improved varieties, increased number of foreign varieties and competitiveness on foreign markets”.                    

The success story of the 13-year cooperation is reflected in figures: 283 applications have been filed and 219 certificates issued for breeders’ rights in Georgia. Notably, maize and wheat are the leading crops for protection by local breeders. In the recent years protection of new varieties of berry crops by foreign companies has increased in Georgia - 5 new varieties of blueberry are already registered and a further 15 applications are under examination. 

In addition, the status of a UPOV member country has enabled Georgia to receive new plant variety applications through UPOV PRISMA, the online tool for submitting international plant variety applications, and to contribute data on the new plant varieties registered in Georgia to the PLUTO database, the international search tool of new plant varieties.