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The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants or UPOV (French: Union internationale pour la protection des obtentions végétales) is an intergovernmental organization with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The current Secretary-General of UPOV is Kamil Idris. UPOV was established by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. The Convention was adopted in Paris in 1961 and revised in 1972, 1978 and 1991. The objective of the Convention is the protection of new varieties of plants by an intellectual property right. By codifying intellectual property for plant breeders, UPOV aims to encourage the development of new varieties of plants for the benefit of society. For plant breeders' rights to be granted, the new variety must meet four criteria under the rules established by UPOV. Protection can be obtained for a new plant variety how ever it has been obtained, e.g. through conventional breeding techniques or genetic engineering.
Members As of August 2005, the following 58 countries were member of UPOV: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan (as of December 9, 2004), Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, the People's Republic of China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan (as of October 24, 2004), Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore (as of July 30, 2004), Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan (as of November 14, 2004). The 59th member of the UPOV and the first intergovernmental organization to join is the European Community (as of July 29, 2005). See also | ||||||||
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