01. Seek Professional Guidance:
Obtaining Plant Variety protection can be complex. It's best to talk to an IP expert who knows about agricultural biotechnology and plant breeding. They can help you with the application details, increasing your chances of getting protection more effectively.
02. Validating Distinctiveness of Your Variety:
It's essential to verify that your plant variety fulfills the essential criteria for protection: novelty, distinctiveness, uniformity, and stability. Engage in thorough research to ensure your variety (i) genuinely offers something new and valuable to the agricultural or horticultural markets, (ii) is unharmful to health and/or the environment and (iv) is compliant with Islamic law and any other applicable laws in the UAE.
03. Confidentiality Measures:
Protecting the uniqueness of your plant variety before applying is important. Use confidentiality agreements when sharing details of your variety with others to keep it eligible for protection.
04. Funding and Budgeting:
Assess the financial requirements. Although the registration is free, expert advice will incur a cost and there may be additional expenses on top of this. Effective budget management throughout the application process is vital to ensure financial resources do not become a constraint on your path to protection.
05. Strategic Decision-Making:
Think about what makes your plant variety special and worth protecting. Also, think about where you want protection – just in your country, regionally, or internationally. This will help you get the most commercial benefits and make your variety successful in the market.
Use the pre-application checklist linked below or read through the outline here to understand the steps you should take before moving into the application process.
Please note, this checklist is not exhaustive and doesn't replace advice from IP experts.
01. Search Existing Plant Varieties:
Do a thorough search in plant variety databases to make sure your plant variety is new and not already registered. Learn where, how & why to search here.
02. Conduct Market Research:
Learn about the market for your new plant variety. Look at the demand, competition, and potential sales opportunities. Think about both short-term sales and long-term sustainability. This helps decide if your variety meets market needs and legal requirements for selling.
03. Documentation and Description:
Plant Variety Specification is the blueprint of your new variety. They help examiners access it against the criteria.
a. Record breeding and development process:
Keep a record of the breeding process and key stages of your plant variety's development. Keep detailed notes on how it was bred, its characteristics, and any genetic markers if used. These records are important to show the uniqueness, consistency, and stability of your variety.
b. Prepare descriptive materials:
Develop a comprehensive description of your plant variety, highlighting its distinct characteristics, growth behavior, and any other traits that set it apart from existing varieties. Include high-quality photographs or illustrations as visual evidence to support your claims.
c. Evaluate Plant Variety protection eligibility:
Assess your variety against the criteria of novelty, distinctness, uniformity, and stability (DUS criteria). This evaluation is fundamental to determining the protectability of your variety under plant variety protection laws.
d. Decide on the scope of protection:
Make strategic decisions regarding the geographical scope of your application—whether to seek protection nationally, regionally or internationally. This decision should align with your commercial strategy and the variety’s potential market.
e. Application drafting:
Write clear and specific applications that describe the legal limits of your variety.
If you have already filed your plant variety overseas, you will be asked to provide documentation from your overseas filing, to support the application in the UAE.
04. Review Application Requirements:
Before filling out the application forms, review the specific requirements and documentation needed by looking at the application forms. This step ensures that you have all necessary information and materials ready. You can go through required documents.
Note: If you’re submitting it via an IP attorney, the authority of the attorney will be required when submitting the application for registration through a Power of Attorney.
A key activity you should undertake before starting your plant variety application is conducting an existing plant variety search. The primary reason for this is to confirm that your variety is distinct from existing varieties.
Find out more about where and how to search below:
Use the plant variety databases below to make sure your search results are comprehensive.
Consider the regional importance of your plant variety and check databases that are most relevant to those specific regions.
Note: The UPOV database can be accessed for free by first creating an account with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Navigating through existing plant varieties to ensure your variety is unique is crucial.
Here's how you can conduct a comprehensive and effective search:
01. Identify the Unique Characteristics of Your Plant Variety:
Determine the distinguishing features of your plant variety, such as resistance traits, growth habits, or other unique attributes.
02. Select Your Relevant Keywords:
Compile a list of keywords that describe your plant variety's unique features, including synonyms and related biological terms, to expand your search scope. Utilize botanical dictionaries or plant databases online for accurate terminology.
03. Refine Your Search:
Utilize filters like the variety's botanical name, breeder, or the date of registration to narrow down your results to the most relevant ones.
04. Incorporate Variety Denominations:
Focus on Variety Denominations, the unique names given to plant varieties when they are protected. Utilize the UPOV database (UPOV Variety Finder) to check these denominations and ensure your variety’s name is unique.
05. Use the UPOV Classification System:
Concentrate on varieties within specific categories through the UPOV Code System, including Codes with Botanical and Common Names, Technical Working Parties (TWPs) and Crop Types at UPOV's official website. This will help you understand the basis for the protection of existing varieties and how they compare to yours.
06. Expand Your Research:
In addition to the UPOV database, extend your search to include scientific journals, agricultural research publications, and other plant variety databases. This comprehensive approach can provide a broader perspective on existing and emerging plant varieties.
07. Stay Informed on Updates:
Regularly check for updates in plant variety protection registries and announcements from agricultural and intellectual property organizations. This helps you stay ahead of new developments that could influence your research and application strategy.
08. Document Your Search:
Keep detailed records of your search parameters, the databases used, and your findings. Note any variety denominations and their associated characteristics that are similar to or differ from your variety. Proper documentation is vital for future reference and supporting the uniqueness of your plant variety application.
Searching existing plant varieties can be a difficult task to undertake. IP attorneys have training and experience to conduct the search process well.
The plant variety application process requires you to fill out a number of documents in detail following specific rules set by The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCE).
Find a list of all the documents you’ll need to submit with your application below:
Note: Registration requests and documents must be submitted in Arabic. If you wish to submit in any other language(s), a legal Arabic translation must be attached to it.
Plant variety specifications act as a blueprint for your breed and can help explain your variation details to examiners and later, to the world.
Crafting a plant variety Specification mirrors the precision and thoroughness required in Plant Variety documentation, albeit with a focus on the unique aspects of plant varieties.
We highly recommend seeking legal guidance at this point in your journey if you haven’t done so already as the document can be difficult to draft accurately.
Here's how to approach writing a plant variety specification:
Applications must include essential identifiers like the plant's scientific and common names, a suggested name that reflects a key trait or genetic advancement, and the country of origin. Clearly defining the botanical and common names, including Arabic equivalents where relevant, helps classify your plant within its biological taxonomy, aiding the examiner's understanding. Look at the Arabic common names and scientific names while checking the GENIE database as well.
Confirm your variety's market novelty by stating it hasn't been commercially utilized in the UAE for over a year or globally for more than six years, for vines and trees and globally for more than 4 years for all other plants, in line with Ministerial Decree No. 17 of 2009. This step is crucial to establishing eligibility for protection under current novelty standards.
Assert the safety of your variety, ensuring it poses no threat to human, animal, or plant health and doesn't negatively impact environmental biodiversity. Such a declaration is vital for affirming the variety's benign nature in its cultivation and commercial activities.
Certify your plant variety's environmental compatibility, emphasizing its neutral or positive impact on ecological sustainability and biodiversity conservation. This attestation underscores your commitment to environmental stewardship.
Demonstrate your variety's uniqueness by detailing its novel characteristics that distinguish it from related species. A comparative analysis to highlight phenotypic or genotypic differences underpins the variety's claim to novelty and distinctiveness.
Verify the genetic integrity of your plant variety, affirming no unauthorized alterations have been made to its genetic structure. This confirmation upholds the variety's originality and genetic consistency.
Illustrate the genetic stability of your plant variety over successive propagation cycles, noting any variability and the extent to which defining traits remain consistent. This information is crucial for proving the variety's reliability through generations.
Provide high-quality color photographs showcasing your plant variety's unique morphological features. These visuals are essential for demonstrating the distinctive attributes that contribute to the variety's identity.
Conclude with an acknowledgment that all application details comply with the stipulations of the Ministerial decree on plant variety protection. This acknowledgment affirms your comprehensive understanding of and adherence to the legal prerequisites for application submission.
While going through the application process via The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCE) we’ve created a document format that helps you consolidate all of the requirements. This document is optional and allows you to fill an Application for plant variety protection certificate that is not meant to replace the main application process.
Note: This form is not meant to replace the application process through the portal.
Below you will find the steps, timeframes, and costs involved in applying for a plant variety. The process is divided into three phases: pre-application, application, and post application.
The time and expenses for each phase may vary depending on the complexity of your plant, the quality of your application, and the level of support you choose.
