b'tralize this work instead of having variousresources, such as water and soil surface,processes and services. It is also good national solutions seems vital. or resisting to harsher climatic conditionsnews that the CPVO application system By way of example, since 1995, theor aggressive pests and diseases.is now connected to the new-born UPOV CPVO received applications for varietiesOne of the first priorities of the newlyPRISMA system which should facilitate belonging to more than 2,000 botanicalelected European Commission led bythe life of breeders that are active in the taxa and over 200 technical protocolsPresident von der Leyen is a new flagshipEU as well as in other jurisdictions. have been drafted in close cooperationpolicy called the European Green Deal.Finally, I still think that it would be with national experts and adopted by theIt is an integral part of the Europeanto the benefit to all stakeholders if the CPVO Administrative Council.Commissions strategy to implement theCPVO will be tasked to be in charge of The protocols are mandatory toUnited Nations 2030 Sustainable Agendathe Common Catalogue, currently man-be used for Community Plant Varietyand the Sustainable Development Goals.aged by the European Commission. This Protection and for EU Member StatesIt is important for the CPVO towill require more resources and we will for both national plant variety rights andreflect on how best we can contribute tobe in search of highly qualified people in listing purposes. This has led to signifi- this flagship policy but also to assess newthe fields of IT and biotechnology.cant harmonisation in variety testing andR&D trends and to analyse policy and as a consequence to an increased trans- regulatory updates which could impactES: HOW IS BREXIT AFFECTING THE parency and improved legal certainty forCPVOs work in the future. Lets think,WORK OF THE CPVO? applicants to the EU system. for instance, of the new EU IntellectualME:When the UK announced its inten-Property strategy to support EUs indus- tion to leave the EU, the CPVO initiated a ES: WHICH ARE SOME OF THEtrial competitiveness or the debateprocedure together with the EU27 exam-CHALLENGES THAT REMAIN? around EU GMO rules and the impact onination offices to ensure that there would ME:Both the EU and the world are verynew breeding techniques. be competence in the EU to test varieties different today than they were 25 yearsFrom an operational viewpoint, weof the species that were until then only ago.constantly look at improving the CPVRcarried out in the UK. At the CPVO, we are convinced thatsystem in order to meet breeders expec- The CPVO stopped to request the plants have a great role to play in address- tations in the best possible way.UK to perform tests on behalf of the ing todays sustainability challenges. NewAs mentioned above, one of my pri- CPVO. The designation agreements that plant varieties enable farmers to groworities is to foster CPVOs digital trans- the CPVO had entered into with the healthier plants using fewer naturalformation with more user-friendly digitalUK-based examination offices expired 34IEUROPEAN SEEDIEUROPEAN-SEED.COM'