USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) has launched a new electronic application filing (ePVP) system in October. “AMS identified a clear opportunity to improve the customer experience by adopting an innovative technology to automate plant variety protection applications.” says Peter Wood, USDA-AMS public affairs specialist.
Wood says the electronic plant variety protection (ePVP) System provides an efficient and secure way for plant breeders to:
• File new plant variety protection applications with supporting data, analyses and high resolution photographs
• Amend existing applications
• Pay fees
• Check the status of an application
• Respond to questions from the PVPO
“Our improved service will benefit a variety of customers from land grant universities with plant breeding programs to specialized breeders to large seed companies,” he says. “The efficiency and cost savings from the new ePVP system will benefit both the customer and USDA.”
The PVPO is a user fee-based program that grants the certificates. Breeders of new plant varieties hold the certificates exclusively for 20 years. Since 1970, the PVPO has issued more than 11,500 certificates of protection.
