– Decree-Law No. 213/90 of June 28, 1990.
– Decree Order No. 940/90 of October 4, 1990.
– Decree Order No. 78/2002 of January 22, 2002.
– Decree-Law No. 257/2009 of September 24, 2009.

– International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 1978 Act, since October 14, 1995.

Applicant: any natural person, his legal successor or body corporation. The name of the breeder must be mentioned when he is not the applicant. 

Foreigners: citizens or residents of a UPOV country have the same rights as a Portuguese citizen, provided protection is granted in the respective home country. Nationals of another country may obtain plant variety certificates on condition of reciprocity. Non-residents must appoint a representative in Portugal. 

Conditions of protection: the species must comply with four requisites: to be distinguishable; homogeneous; stable and novel; and must have a designation.

Filing Office: the application for a plant variety right must be filed with the Ministry of Agriculture (DGAV-Direção Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária), indicating the particulars as follows.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. The applicant’s name, nationality and address;
2. Designation of the variety;
3. Complete description of the plant variety;
4. Countries where a title of plant variety has been applied for or obtained;
5. Indication as to whether the variety is registered in another country;
6. Priority claim.

Documents: the application must be accompanied by:
(a) a complete specification of the variety with the indication of the manner by which the variety has been obtained and its specific characteristics;
(b) a power of attorney (if the application is filed by a representative of the breeder);
(c) a document showing the assignment in case the application is not filed in the name of the breeder;
(d) a declaration of novelty.

Examination: DGAV makes a formal examination within five days after receiving the application of all the documents of compliance with the requirements as to novelty, distinctiveness, homogeneity and stability of the variety, and clarifies the description. If omissions are found, the applicant is given between fifteen and thirty days to remedy them.

Publication: once the application is accepted, it is published in the “Gazette of DGAV” for the purpose of oppositions by third parties. 

Opposition: any person having an interest has the right to file oppositions within two months from the publication date. The oppositions are notified to the applicant by DGAV in order to allow him to file a reply thereto within thirty days.

Decision: once all terms have elapsed, the requested plant variety will be subject to examination regarding distinctiveness, homogeneity and stability. The results of these examinations are sent to the applicant for comments within thirty days. An opinion from the technical board of DGAV is given and the protection is granted or refused and published in the Gazette of DGAV.

Beginning of protection: date of granting. 

Duration: fifteen years for herbaceous plants and twenty years for ligneous plants.

Annuities: to maintain the protection in force an annual tax must be paid.

Scope of protection: the certificate of plant variety confers to its owner an exclusive right to produce, to sell or to offer for sale all plants for reproduction of the variety. 

Assignment and licenses: the breeder may grant exploitation licenses, which must be recorded at the Register of Protected Varieties.

Compulsory licenses: may be granted.

Grounds for nullification: non-payment of the fees; when the vegetative variety no longer keeps the characteristics which determined its granting; upon request of the owner; when DGAV does not receive the material proving that the characteristics of the variety are maintained; when it is proved that the owner of the right is not its legal owner.