The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPVFR Act, 2001) provides for the establishment of an effective system for the protection of plant varieties, the rights of farmers and plant breeders and to encourage the development of new varieties of plants.

A plant variety is a recognized form of intellectual property that is used to protect the breeders of unique plant varieties. Plant breeders’ rights are legally enforceable exclusive rights granted to the breeder of the registered variety to commercially use/ sell / distribute/ receive royalties from the sale of such distinct plants.

The Plant Variety Protection and Farmers Rights Act, 2001, is an attempt by the Indian Government to recognize and protect the rights of both commercial plant breeders and farmers for their contribution with respect to such unique varieties of plants as well as encourage the development and cultivation of such similar plants on a large extent. The various types of plant varieties that can be registered under PPVFR Act, 2001 are:

• New varieties
• Extant variety
• Farmers’ variety
• Essentially derived variety

A new variety shall be registered under PPVFR Act, 2001 if it conforms to the criteria of novelty, distinctiveness, uniformity, and stability. The maximum time taken for issuing the certificate of registration under this act is three years from the date of filing the application for registration of a plant variety.