Prolongation of registration
Ten years after the original date of registration (admission) of a variety of a vegetable or agricultural crop, registration expires and the variety is deleted, unless prolongation of registration is applied for. Prolongation of registration is only possible in the Netherlands for vegetable and agricultural varieties that are admitted in the Netherlands and listed in the national variety register (NRR).
Please note that the responsibility for prolongation lies with the maintainer of the variety.
Prolongation registration
Maintainers should therefore consider once every 10 years whether they want to continue the registration of the variety concerned in the NRR or not. The varieties that the maintainers do not want to continue with will then enter the procedure for deletion. This ensures a cleaned and up-to-date variety register at all times.
When is a variety to be considered for prolongation of registration
A variety is only to be considered for prolongation of registration if it is "maintained". This means that the variety still must meet the conditions of distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS). Based on information gathered by the Board and information from the inspection service, the maintenance of the variety must be sufficiently guaranteed, which ensures that the variety continues to meet its identity and description.
How to apply for prolongation of registration
The Board for plant varieties sends an invitation to all maintainers who have varieties in the NRR whose (original) registration is about to expire. This is done 2 years in advance (before the 10-year term expires) and applications have to be submitted by 31 December of the year in question at the latest. Through MyNaktuinbouw you can log in and enter the online module for prolongation of registration. Here you can click on the varieties you want to submit for prolongation of registration.
If no application for prolongation of registration is submitted
If no application for prolongation of registration is submitted, the variety enters the procedure for deletion. This happens 10 years after the date of admission. If the variety is already no longer maintained, then you can also have the variety deleted early by sending an email to teamsupport@rasraad.nl.
Varieties with several maintainers
Some varieties have several maintainers. This is shown on the EU plant variety database as an 'X' variety. These are usually older varieties. Many of these varieties have synonym names. When prolongation of registration of these varieties, all maintainers are written to, but only one maintainer needs to apply for prolongation. To avoid misunderstandings, in these cases we recommend that the maintainers discuss among themselves which of them will apply for prolongation.