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 If the variety is already no longer maintained, then you can also have the variety deleted early by sending an email to teamsupport@rasraad.nl.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.
More about Prolongation
Frequently Asked Questions
You have received a letter with an overview of the varieties. These are eligible for prolongation of the registration. Varieties listed in other years are not yet applicable for prolongation of registration. Also varieties that have been removed already from the national variety register are not applicable for prolongation of registration.
The fees that are calculated are cost-recovering. If costs have been already incurred (that means that activities have already been carried out for your application), then we will calculate these costs. You can contact team support regarding this topic.
The correspondence will be submitted to the maintainer who is currently known in the administration of the Board for plant varieties. The reason is that after listing there is exclusively contact with the maintainer of the concerned variety. The Board doesn’t have up to date data on agents or commercial representatives.
Our advice is to use the online module via MyNaktuinbouw. The data for your company is already pre-completed on the form. If this is not possible, you can download the application form for prolongation of registration from the website of the Board for plant varieties.
No, the varieties can be submitted via the module until the mentioned closing date of December 31. This can be done in multiple separate shifts. Ticked varieties will be stored meanwhile. They do not have to be submitted immediately. When you log in a next time, the ticked varieties will still be present in the module.
NB: if varieties are already requested and submitted, then it is not possible anymore to change these through the module. Please contact teamsupport@rasraad.nl.
Unfortunately, you missed the deadline. In exceptional cases, re-application of a variety is possible. Another possibility may be that a third party takes over the maintenance of the variety. For the possibilities and fees you can contact us via teamsupport@rasraad.nl.
Yes, that is possible. You can request access for several persons to the module for prolongation of registration of the Board on MyNaktuinbouw. This can be done on a general e-mail address, that several people use, or on a personal e-mail address.
Several maintainers of the variety are mentioned in the annex of the letter that you received. Besides, this is visible in the online module for prolongation of registration. If you see that one of the varieties of which you are (co-)maintainer is also maintained by another maintainer, you can contact this company.
in order to discuss which company applies for prolongation of registration. In this way, you can divide the costs for prolongation of registration.
Yes, you will remain visible as maintainer if another maintainer has requested already for prolongation of registration. You will only be removed as maintainer if you explicitly request it.
All varieties, which were listed sometime during the year 2015, are suppose to have been registered for the purpose of re-registration on the last day of that year. Example: if a variety is been registered in 2015, then it is suppose to be registered on the 31 December of 2015. Ten years after this date, the registration expires (on 31 December 2025). The effective date of the 10-year registration period will then be January 1, 2026. All varieties that have been prolonged for registration will all be processed with the same date for prolongation.
Yes, this will be drawn up both in NL and GB and sent by e-mail.
No, only varieties that are included for listing in the national variety register and are still being maintained have the possibility for prolongation of registration.