On April 20, the 43rd meeting of the vegetable technology working team under the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) was unveiled in Beijing.

Delegations from each member units reported the achievements of the protection of new varieties of plants and discussed the amendment of technology documents of UPOV and international test guides for vegetable plants.

A principal named Shi Yanquan from the Ministry of Agriculture said in his address, at present, China's agriculture authority has worked out 58 national test guides for plants and had 44 test guides under research and development.

From now on, the Ministry of Agriculture will enhance the abilities to create, protect and use new varieties of plants, in accordance with the requirements of National IPR Strategy Outline. Meanwhile, it will tighten the cooperation with Secretariat and member states of UPOV.

As of the end of this March, China has filed 290 applications related to the variety rights of vegetable plants, involving 19 types and classes.

(Source: IPR in China)