PVR process

1. Application

You may apply for Plant Variety Rights (PVR) in New Zealand by completing the online application form through the IPONZ website.

How to apply for a PVR

You may also file your application via UPOV PRISMA, an online application tool maintained by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). This will allow you to submit your application data to multiple IP offices, including IPONZ.

UPOV PRISMA — UPOV

The following items may be required to be submitted as part of the application process:

A completed technical questionnaire applicable to the particular genus or species.
A digital colour photo for every application for a fruit, ornamental, tree, or vegetable variety (including potatoes).
A seed sample for an arable crop, pasture plant, amenity grass or seed propagated vegetable variety.
Payment of the relevant fee.
Documentation: Authorisation of agent, Evidence of ownership, Evidence of priority.

More information on these and other requirements may be found in the pages below.

Technical questionnaires

Seed samples

Plant Variety Rights fees

2. Applications for indigenous and certain non-indigenous plant species

Part 5 of the Plant Variety Rights Act 2022 (“the PVR Act 2022”) provides for the protection of kaitiaki relationships with taonga species and mātauranga Māori. Before examination takes place for any variety belonging to the species above, a Plant Variety Rights Office (PVR Office) examiner will refer the application to the Maori Plant Varieties Committee for their consideration. The application will only proceed to Preliminary Examination with the approval of the Committee.

3. Preliminary examination

Examiners from the Plant Variety Rights Office review PVR applications to ensure that all criteria for a grant of rights are met. More information on our examination and office practices may be found in our Technical Guidance pages:

Technical guidance

Following our receipt of the application the examiner carries out a preliminary examination. This includes the following steps:

The variety testing requirements and arrangements are determined, including availability of, and access to, plant material.
Varieties that may be similar to the candidate variety are identified.
Formalities such as ownership and newness are checked.
The variety denomination is assessed, or requested if not yet proposed.

The preliminary examination may require clarification of application information and requests for further information. Depending on the kind of variety and the procedure followed, you may be required to supply further information and/or plant material.

4. Testing and evaluation

Testing and evaluation requirements will vary depending on the variety being examined. Your examiner will advise you of requirements that may come up in the course of your application.

Please note that the following is only a general indication of requirements. The information below does not cover all testing arrangements or plant species.

a) Ornamentals and trees

Garden roses, and any other ornamentals tested in a central PVR trial

You will be required to supply plants for evaluation in the central trial.

Ornamentals evaluated using an overseas test report

If your variety is an ornamental that has had a test report issued by an overseas authority, the PVR Office will request a copy of that report directly from the authority for testing in NZ. You may be required to supply plants of the variety for the PVR Office reference collection. For more details, see our guidelines on the use of foreign test reports.

Use of foreign test reports for DUS testing in New Zealand

Ornamentals evaluated in growing trials on the applicant's property

If your variety is an ornamental, you should establish and maintain a growing trial as specified by the PVR Office. It will often be necessary to grow the most similar variety and other varieties alongside the candidate variety. You may also be required to supply plants for the PVR reference collection. For more details, please see our guidelines for growing trials on applicants' properties.

Guidelines for PVR growing trials on an applicant's property

b) Fruit

Testing of pipfruit and stonefruit varieties usually occurs at specified testing centres, so you will be asked by the test centre staff to supply plants for evaluation. Each test centre has specific requirements. For example:

DUS testing of apples at the Cultivar Centre Hawkes Bay

Other genera for fruit varieties have differing arrangements for testing, as specified by the PVR Office. For most varieties, the applicant should be prepared to supply or provide access to planting material for testing purposes in reasonable time.

c) Agricultural and vegetable crops

Crops tested in central PVR Office trials include:

barley, oats, wheat, rye, triticale
grasses and clover
peas
potatoes
forage brassicas
grass endophytes.

For the crops specified above that have the requirement to supply seed at application (that is, barley, oats, wheat, rye, triticale, grasses, clover, peas and forage brassicas) there is normally no need for you to supply further information and material after your initial application.

For potatoes and grass endophytes, plant material will be requested to be supplied just prior to the time of trial establishment.

Crops tested by the applicant

For those crops not tested in PVR Office centralised trials, you are responsible for describing the new variety and demonstrating that it is distinct, uniform and stable (DUS). This means you must conduct a growing trial in New Zealand of the new variety together with any similar varieties, usually for two growing seasons, as specified by the PVR Office.

From the growing trial you must supply:

A detailed botanical description of the variety. Prepare this by completing the Objective Description form appropriate to the genus – this will be sent to you by the PVR Office. Sometimes an additional description in your words is necessary or helpful to describe characteristics not adequately covered in the Objective Description form.
Note: The objective description must be prepared from plants grown in New Zealand.
A distinctness statement. You should describe how the new variety is distinct from others and, unless it is very obvious, verify the difference by supplying plant material, photographs, diagrams, statistical data or by any other appropriate scientific means.
A statement demonstrating that the variety is sufficiently uniform and stable.

Agricultural and vegetable varieties evaluated using an overseas test report

For certain varieties the PVR Office will request a test report from a foreign office, and the results will be used for testing in NZ. You may be required to supply seed for the PVR Office reference collection if seed has not already been supplied at application. For more details, please see our guidelines on the use of foreign test reports.

Use of foreign test reports for DUS testing in New Zealand

Testing to determine Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) and drafting the variety description

Evaluation for PVR is based on assessment of the new variety in a growing trial.

To establish that a new variety is distinct, it is usual to compare plants of the new variety growing alongside plants of the most similar varieties.
To draft the variety description, it is necessary to compare plants of the new variety with plants of the reference or example varieties growing in the same trial.
To properly assess uniformity and stability, there must be a sufficient number of plants to compare.

A detailed morphological description of the new variety is prepared using plants in the growing trial.

You will be informed of the necessary arrangements, and when to pay the trial fee(s) as well as the examination fee.

Establishment of growing trials and the evaluation of the new variety can involve long lengths of time - frequently this part of the process can take years. To avoid unnecessary delays, the PVR Office will set realistic deadlines for the applicant to provide documents, information or plant material. Should a deadline not be met, the application could lapse.

Use of experts

The examiner may seek information from an expert with an extensive knowledge of existing varieties of the species (in the case of roses, a panel of experts is consulted). The expert(s) will study the description and photographs of the variety, and will sometimes also view growing specimens or distinctive parts such as the fruit or flowers. The expert(s) may often be familiar with the candidate variety. After the assessment, the expert(s) will provide an opinion on the eligibility of candidate varieties - in particular whether they believe them to be distinct.

5. Final examination and recommendation

Following the completion of variety testing, the examiner carries out a final examination, in particular focusing on technical aspects of the application. On completion of the examination, the examiner provides the Commissioner with a recommendation as to whether or not the variety is eligible for a grant of Rights.

6. PVR granted or refused

If the Commissioner is satisfied that the variety meets the criteria for PVR, you will receive a grant of Plant Variety Rights.

If the Commissioner is satisfied that the variety does not meet the criteria for PVR, you will receive notification of a proposal to refuse a grant of Plant Variety Rights. You will have an opportunity to respond to this proposal within a given timeframe.

Granted PVRs remain in effect for a limited period of time, known as the term of grant. The term of grant begins from the date when the PVR is granted.

If a PVR is granted, a grant fee (also known as a 'renewal fee') becomes payable on each anniversary date of the grant. This fee must be paid in order to renew the grant and allow it to remain in effect. A PVR will expire if it is not renewed in this way, or if it reaches the end of its term of grant.

Renewals

Whenever a renewal fee is due for a granted PVR, we will send one or more renewal notices before the due date. These notices will advise you of the deadline by which the fee must be paid.

We will send you a renewal notice three months before your due date.
We will send you a second renewal notice one month before your due date, if you have not yet paid your renewal fee by that time.

If your PVR was examined and granted under the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987:

Your first renewal after 24 January 2023 will be charged according to fees under the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987. If you have not yet paid your renewal fee one month after this first renewal due date, we will send you a proposal of cancellation for your PVR.
Once you have completed this first renewal, any future renewals will be charged according to fees under the Plant Variety Rights Act 2022. If you have not yet paid your renewal fee by these due dates, we will send you a proposal of cancellation for your PVR.

A proposal of cancellation will give you a final deadline to pay your renewal fee. If you have still not paid your renewal fee by the deadline given in our proposal of cancellation, your PVR will be cancelled. There are no provisions to restore a PVR that is cancelled in this way.

If you PVR was examined and granted under the Plant Variety Rights Act 2022:

Your renewals will be charged according to fees under the Plant Variety Rights Act 2022.
If your due date has passed and you have not yet paid your renewal fee, your PVR will automatically be cancelled. In these instances, you may request for your PVR to be restored to the register under certain conditions in the Plant Variety Rights Act 2022.

Terms of grant

Different terms of grant apply depending on the Act under which the PVR was examined and granted.

For rights granted under the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987:

A variety from a non-woody plant genus – such as petunia, lily, alstroemeria or grasses – can remain protected for up to 20 years. This includes potatoes (Solanum tuberosum).
A variety from a woody plant genus – such as apple, blueberry, pine or rose – can remain protected for up to 23 years.

For rights granted under the Plant Variety Rights Act 2022:

A variety from a non-woody plant genus – such as petunia, lily, alstroemeria or grasses – can remain protected for up to 20 years.
A variety from a woody plant genus – such as apple, blueberry, pine or rose – can remain protected for up to 25 years.
A variety of potato (Solanum tuberosum) can remain protected for up to 25 years.

7. Objections

Once an application is received by IPONZ, any person at any time may lodge an objection against the making of a grant of Plant Variety Rights for a variety that is under application.

Following the grant of Plant Variety Rights, any person at any time may lodge an objection on the grounds that it was made in contravention of the requirements of the Act, even if the grant is in effect.