MAY 2026  |  SEEDWORLD.COM/EUROPE  I  SEED WORLD EUROPE   I   25
T
he European Commission’s ongoing 
evaluation of the Community Plant 
Variety Rights (CPVR) legislation 
represents a very important opportunity for 
the EU plant breeding sector. The evalua­
tion, covering both Regulation EC 2100/94 
and the functioning of the Community 
Plant Variety Office (CPVO), aims to assess 
the system’s effectiveness, efficiency, rele­
vance, coherence and EU added value more 
than 30 years after its creation. 
A PROVEN FRAMEWORK 
UNDER REVIEW
Across Euroseeds’ work with members, sev­
eral themes consistently emerge. The CPVR 
framework is widely regarded as the most 
reliable and cost effective mechanism for 
securing EU wide protection for new plant 
varieties. It enables breeders to rely on a 
single, harmonised title, reducing admin­
istrative burden and ensuring predicta­
ble protection throughout all European 
Member States. This predictability is key 
to supporting innovation and long term 
investment in plant breeding. 
WHERE THE SYSTEM DELIVERS 
AND WHERE IT FALLS SHORT
At the same time, there are also areas 
where the system no longer fully meets 
today’s needs. Implementation and 
enforcement challenges, particularly 
regarding farm saved seed (FSS), remain 
a serious concern for breeders, with signif­
icant impact on legal certainty and return 
on investment. Euroseeds has repeatedly 
stressed that the absence of effective and 
enforceable FSS mechanisms creates an 
uneven playing field and risks undermin­
ing innovation in crops where the exemp­
tion applies. 
In addition to these structural chal­
lenges, Euroseeds has identified a longer 
list of priority points that would help 
modernise and improve the system. These 
include, among others, strengthening 
provisional protection, updating the pro­
cedure for extending the duration of plant 
breeder’s rights, aligning the concepts of 
essentially derived varieties (EDVs) to the 
UPOV explanatory notes on this topic.
CPVR EVALUATION: A KEY MOMENT 
FOR THE FUTURE OF PLANT VARIETY 
PROTECTION IN EUROPE
A WINDOW TO MODERNIZE 
PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION
For Euroseeds and its members, the evalua­
tion is therefore not only a technical exercise 
but a real opportunity. It allows the sector 
to advocate for a modernised and flexible 
system that guarantees legal certainty, sup­
ports innovation, and ensures fair access and 
balanced rights for breeders and farmers.
Euroseeds will continue coordinating 
closely with its committees, national asso­
ciations and member companies to provide 
coherent input, share evidence and highlight 
practical experience from across the EU. As 
the public and targeted consultations pro­
gress, the sector remains strongly committed 
to supporting this evaluation and to contrib­
uting constructively to shaping the future of 
plant variety protection in Europe.  
“The CPVR evaluation is 
not just a technical review, 
but a critical opportunity 
to reinforce legal certainty 
and sustain innovation in 
European plant breeding.”
BY: FRANCESCA GARBATO, 
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND LEGAL 
AFFAIRS MANAGER AT EUROSEEDS

View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.