India’s plant-variety law is genuinely path-breaking — a sui generis system recognising not just breeders’ rights but farmers’ and community rights. Yet it stumbles at the very first step: you can only register varieties of species the Authority has notified. If your crop isn’t on the list, it simply can’t be protected.
A path-breaking law
India adopted a sui generis system, enacting legislation providing for plant breeders’ rights alongside farmers’ and community rights. It recognises farmers’ varieties and extant varieties — pro-agrarian leanings that led UPOV to criticise it for not matching its standards. But India’s farming, rooted in traditional knowledge, differs from the West’s corporatised model, and the Act does justice to that unexplored potential. Practically, though, much hasn’t been thought through — starting with registration.
How registration works
Under Section 16, any eligible person can apply to the Registrar, Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights (PPV&FR) Authority, to register a variety of a genus/species specified under Section 29(2), or an extant or farmer’s variety. The applicant files a completed application with statements, provides the required seed samples, and pays the fee. A Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) test follows; if accepted (no opposition, or opposition quashed), the Registrar issues a certificate.
The bottleneck
Sounds simple — but the problem is at step one: identifying the genus/species. The Authority specifies eligible species by Gazette notification under Section 29(2) — the latest (as of the article) notified on 12 May 2017, listing 130 species. Species not on the list cannot be protected.
So while mangoes, mandarin and Japanese plums feature, blueberries do not — and until they’re listed, blueberry varieties can’t be protected. Worse, there are no guidelines on how the list is decided or released, no clarity on adding new varieties, and no idea when the next list will come. That excludes many interested parties, effectively crippling the policy.
What’s needed
If the Act is here to stay, it needs a complete survey of commercial and traditional crops to protect, with fast-tracked implementation and transparent stakeholder feedback. It’s a striking example that laws and jargon alone don’t deliver farmers’ rights — the Act reads well internationally, but it’s overdue to become representative domestically too.
The takeaways
- India’s PPV&FR Act is sui generis — recognising farmers’, breeders’ and community rights.
- Only notified species can be registered — 130 as of the 2017 notification.
- Unlisted crops (e.g. blueberries) are unprotectable until added, with no clear process for additions.
- The notified-species process needs transparency and speed to make the law effective.
Frequently asked questions
How do I register a plant variety in India? Apply to the Registrar under Section 16 of the PPV&FR Act with the required statements and seed samples; the variety then undergoes a DUS test before a certificate issues.
Can any plant variety be registered? No — only varieties of species notified by the PPV&FR Authority under Section 29(2) can be registered; unlisted species can’t be protected.
Why can’t some crops be protected? Because they aren’t on the notified-species list — for example, blueberries were excluded, and there’s no clear process or timeline for adding new species.
What is the DUS test? The Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability test that a variety must pass as part of the registration process.
Useful official resources
- Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA)
- The PPV&FR Act, 2001