For applications filed on or after January 24, 2023:
– Plant Variety Rights Act 2022 (2022, No. 61).
– Plant Variety Rights Act Regulations 2022 (2022/346).
For applications filed prior to January 24, 2023:
– The Plant Variety Act 1987 (1987, No. 5), and Plant Variety Rights Regulations 1988 still apply to applications filed prior to January 24, 2023.
– Plant Variety Rights (Grantee's Rights) Order 1997 (1997/358).
– Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Act 2019, in force since January 13, 2020.

– International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 1978 Act, since November 8, 1981. However, to uphold New Zealand's obligations under the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) the 2022 Act gives effect to UPOV91, while providing additional requirements for grant of rights directed to indigenous plants.

Applicant: the breeder or discoverer or successor in title (the “owner”).

Foreign applicants: must nominate an address for service within New Zealand or Australia.

Kinds of plants: rights can be obtained on all plants, including fungi and algae, but not bacteria.

Novelty: a variety is not new, if it: (a) (i) has been sold in New Zealand with the agreement of the owner for more than twelve months before the date of application in New Zealand, (ii) has been sold outside New Zealand with the agreement of the owner, if it is a woody plant, more than six years or, in every other case, more than four years, before the date of application in New Zealand; (b) is not distinguishable by one or more characteristics (such as morphological or physiological) from any other variety whose existence was a matter of common knowledge at the date of application; (c) is not sufficiently homogeneous having regard to the particular features of its sexual reproduction or vegetative propagation; (d) is not stable, i.e. not true to its description after repeated propagation or reproduction.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. An application form executed by the owner (breeder, discoverer or successor in law), must nominate an address for service within New Zealand or Australia (form available from the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand). An informal application form may be completed and filed by an agent, but authorization of agent must be filed later;
2. Application form to be accompanied by a quantity of seed for specific varieties prescribed in Plant Variety Rights Regulations, a completed technical questionnaire (supplied by the Office) and color photographs when required by the Regulations;
3. An unlegalized authorization of agent, if not included in the application form;
4. Convention priority, if applicable, shall be claimed on the application form (certified copy of priority application to be filed within three months);
5. The application fee;
6. Evidence that applicant, if other than the breeder or discoverer, is entitled to file the application in New Zealand;
7. A proposed denomination of the variety may be made on the application form or notified later;
8. A technical description on a form provided (by the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand) for each kind of plant (to be filed within twelve or eighteen months of the application);
9. The trial or examination fee (payable on request by the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand);
10. Reproductive material or any other information as requested (to be given within twelve months of being requested).

Examination: the application is first examined to determine whether it is in compliance with formal requirements. An applicant may make amendments or submit additional information, if necessary. The application is then notified in the Plant Variety Rights Journal and from notification is available for public inspection.

Inspection: in almost all cases, inspection of plants imported into New Zealand will be required. Strict quarantine requirements mean it is important for intending applicants to import specimens as early as possible.

Provisional protection: applicant's rights to take proceedings date from date of application, however, cannot be enforced or action cannot be taken until after a grant has been made.

Objection: within three months from the notification of a proposed denomination in the Journal, third parties may object. At any time prior to grant, third parties may object (a) that the applicant is not the owner of the variety concerned; or (b) that the variety concerned is not new, distinct, stable and homogeneous. The Commissioner hears objections.

At the end of his investigations, the Commissioner makes a grant in respect of every application that is eligible for grant.

Appeal: decisions of the Commissioner are subject to appeal to the District Court.

Duration: a grant of rights on: (a) woody plants have a term of twenty-five years; (b) all other plants have a term of twenty years; from the date of grant. Potato varieties also have a twenty-five year term.

Maori Plant Variety Rights Committee (MPVRC): applications directed towards indigenous plant varieties, or non-indigenous varieties of significance will be referred to the MPVRC. The MPVRC has the ability to refuse grant of a PVR.

Essentially derived varieties (EDVs): the concept of EDVs are included in the PVR Act 2022. A variety is considered to be essentially derived if it expresses all of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype or combination of genotypes in the variety from which it is derived.

Grantee’s rights: a grantee has the exclusive right to produce or reproduce the variety, condition for the purpose of propagation; sell or offer for sale or other marketing; import or export the variety; stock for the purpose of undertaking a restricted activity.

Exception to grantee’s rights: any person may (a) propagate, grow or use a protected variety for non-commercial purposes; (b) hybridize, or produce a new variety from a protected variety or sell any hybrid of, or new variety produced from a protected variety; or (c) use reproductive material from a protected variety for human consumption or other non-reproductive purposes.

Compulsory licenses: may be granted by the Commissioner if the grantee has not made reasonable quantities of reproductive material of a reasonable quality of the protected variety available for public purchase at a reasonable price after three years from grant. Commissioner may also grant compulsory sales order that grantee sell reproductive material of the protected variety to the complainant. The 2022 Act also introduces a public interest test.

Objection after grant: any person who considers that grant was made (a) in respect of a variety that is not new, distinct, stable and homogeneous; or (b) to a person who was not the owner of that variety, may object to the continuation in force of that grant, by notice to the Commissioner.

Cancellation by Commissioner: on being satisfied (a) that any information supplied in relation to an application was incorrect and the grant would not have been made on correct information; (b) that the variety was not new and distinct at the time of application; (c) that the variety is not stable and homogeneous; (d) that the grantee was not an owner when the grant was made; (e) that the grantee has failed to provide the Commissioner with reproductive material when requested; (f) that the grantee has failed to allow inspection or provide documents or information when required; (g) that the annual grant fee has not been paid; (h) that the grantee has failed to comply with any compulsory license or compulsory sales order.

Renewal: renewal fees are payable annually, within the three-month period immediately prior to the anniversary of the date of grant.

Denomination: great importance is attached to the denomination of a variety which forms a part of the grant. Proposed denominations must conform to international usage. Denominations of grants are notified to the Trade Marks Office and become protected words unavailable for trademark registration.

Applications made by a patent attorney or other agents must include (can be at a later date) an authorization from the applicant.