1.4 HISTORY OF PBR IN AUSTRALIA

Debate about the introduction of Plant Breeder’s Rights in Australia has a long history but legislation, in the form of the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987, was not introduced until 1987.

In 1994 the Plant Variety Rights Act 1987 was replaced with the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 to ensure ongoing consistency with the changing international UPOV Convention, and ensuring that the Plant Breeder’s Rights system was in line with changing technologies; there have been some amendments since 1994, most notably in 2002.

Plant Breeder’s Rights legislation has a longer history in Europe and the United States with the first legislation in the early 1900s and the first UPOV International Convention in 1961.

Once the legislation was introduced in Australia in 1987 its coverage of plant species was rapid, growing from 8 initially to all species (unless specifically exempted by the regulations) by March 1990.

Growth in registrations under the PBR Act since its enactment in 1994 has been impressive with more than 4000 protected varieties by 2004. The following gives some key figures:

	•	around 400 new applications are received each year
	•	up to 100 new breeders enter the scheme each year
	•	approximately 60% of all applications are from overseas
	•	most applications are from the private sector
	•	at least 20 new varieties in the major export crops category are being registered per annum - with 680 new varieties of field crops and pastures processed since the inception of the scheme. (Explanatory Memo 2002 RIS)

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