On November 16, 2022, the parliament of Ukraine adopted the Law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on Bringing Legislation in the Field of Protection of Rights to Plant Varieties and Seed Production and Nurseries into Compliance with the Provisions of European Union Legislation”, which simplifies the procedure for examination, registration of plant varieties and circulation seeds and planting material.
The law provides, in particular:
- introduction of the mechanism of electronic application for a variety;
- shortening the terms of consideration of plant variety application documents;
- abolition of the mandatory submission of indicators of suitability for distribution in the application materials for crops undergoing research;
- introduction of electronic services for obtaining permits for importing seed samples for research purposes;
- establishment of criteria for authorization of certification bodies, in particular, regarding the presence of its own accredited laboratory;
- granting the right to any person to submit an application for the distribution of a variety and to acquire the status of a supporter for varieties that have the status of public domain varieties;
- simplification of the procedure for importing into the territory of Ukraine seeds and planting material, varieties, and information about which is contained in the register of plant varieties of Ukraine;
- removal of restrictions on the import of seed samples into Ukraine for research and selection purposes, in particular, when obtaining permission documents for the import of seed samples;
- providing the opportunity to determine the sowing qualities of seeds by seed and nursery entities that are their producers, subject to obtaining the authorization of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Also, the Law provides opportunities for seed suppliers to import seeds of new varieties into Ukraine, in respect of which all the actions of the state registration of the variety have been completed on the basis of entering information about new varieties into the Register of varieties, especially taking into account the specifics of the circulation of varieties and hybrids of vegetable crops, and the parent components of hybrids that have been entered to the national register of the EU countries, submitted in at least one EU member state and in respect of which examinations were carried out for distinction, homogeneity, stability or taking into account the results of research directly by the breeder of the variety.