Ornamental plant production and varieties legal protection in

Ornamental plant production and varieties legal protection in Poland Mieczysław Grzesik, Adam Marosz Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture, Skierniewice, Poland

Factors affecting development of ornamental plant production in future • Lower cost of plant production than in West Europe • Sufficient soil and climate conditions and not polluted soil • Geographical placement enabling the trade with East and West Europe • High professionalism of growers, high and growing local demand for these plants or not limited and increased export • Very important social aspect because it is a labor-intensive sector and thus it can greatly reduce unemployment in countryside. The laborintensive plant production is decreased in West Europe • Crucial role in forming of our environment and its influence on human health • The increased production needs the state regulations supporting positive and stimulating challenges in ornamental plants production

Legal protection of ornamental plant varieties • No obligation to register in National or in Common Catalogue • Two options for ornamental plant variety protection - protection on Community level (Community scale) - national protection (country scale) • Community system exists in parallel with the national PBR systems of the present EU Member States. • Systems are regulated by: - several EU regulations - National Plant Breeders’ Rights system, issued by director of Research Centre for Cultivar Testing (COBORU) in which Registration of Varieties Protected by Plant Breeders' Rights (Księga Ochrony Wyłącznego Prawa) is conducted

Situation of legal protection of ornamental plant varieties in Poland • Protection of over 1200 ornamental varieties in 2004 • Protection of ornamental plant varieties by Polish breeders manly on national level • The main reason for no protection of Polish cultivars on European level is very high fee for registration and protection • Variety protection on Community scale is several times more expensive than on Polish territory and for Polish breeders it is not profitable • Owners of varieties from Western Europe protect their varieties on Community level and some of them protect their varieties additionally in Polish catalog

Situation of ornamental plant breeders in Poland • Decreased number of Polish ornamental breeders and breeding institutions during last years • Creation of some new Polish varieties by grower’s selection • Because of low number of the created varieties, breeders and growers depute plant protection and plant distribution to the specialized companies • Wide production of old varieties in many sectors of ornamental plants, which are not protected and restricted by Plant Breeders’ Rights system • Urgent needs to restore Polish breeding system because the royalties for country varieties are much lower then foreign varieties. The royalties, which are paid to foreign breeders, are very high and this sum could support Polish breeding system

Protection of ornamental nursery varieties • There is observed a high introduction of the Plant Breeders’ Rights system in ornamental plants production, although the payments of license royalties by growers to the varieties owners depends on a kind and scale of plant production and trade • Lot of large companies produce the legally obtained plants and become the representatives of breeders in executions of royalties • In the sector of hardy nursery stock, major enterprises, which contribute for ca. 80% of ornamental nursery stock production in Poland and/or export it, produce licensed material • Difficulties to obtain information on buying licenses by small farms, which produce plants of old varieties, on a small scale and do not export them

Protection of roses varieties • For majority of Polish rose producers the royalties are too high, because they are as high as in Western Europe, were income is much higher than in Poland • These royalties are barely acceptable by those who produce roses all the year. Majority of growers produce roses only seasonally and license royalties of approximately 0. 85 Euro per plant are too high. They are not acceptable when price of plant is 1. 20 Euro • Some varieties are sold under different trademark band some Polish cultivars are registered by foreign companies as their protected varieties • The number of the foreign license owners or their representatives in Poland increase. These representatives legally distribute varieties and very actively collect the royalties from other Polish producers

Protection of Chrysanthemum varieties • On a country level, the number of protected varieties decreased from 147 in 2004 down to 101 in 2005. • On a Community level, 942 chrysanthemum varieties were protected in November 2005 • Foreign breeders protect the increased number of varieties only in Poland

Protection of varieties of plants grown in open field • Most varieties of plants propagated from seeds, bulb plants, trees, shrubs and perennials grown in open field in Poland belong to nonprotected, old varieties, commonly known before 1995, or to cultivars protected only on the country level. • Seed market is small and consequently there is a lack of money for breeding and protection of varieties • Foreign varieties owners are not always interested in selling them in Poland, which may result in illegal production

Improvement of royalty administration for ornamental plants grown in open field and in greenhouses • Royalties should be in some proportion to the local price of a final product of trees, shrubs, perennials, bulbs, bedding plants, etc. It is unacceptable that license cost reaches 50 -60% or more of the market value of the product. Such situation makes Polish horticulture unprofitable and may indicate a discriminative economic activity • Stimulation of organization of plant producers into associations to ensure stronger position in negotiations • Re-creation of good conditions for development of Polish breeding so that new good local varieties increased prestige of Polish enterprises

Improvement of royalty administration for ornamental plants grown in open field and in greenhouses • The rule should be implemented that infringement by any citizen in Poland of a PBR could be automatically prosecuted officially just like it takes place with, for example, infringement of copyright (in literature, music etc. ) • Variety owners should be willing to sell them to Poland. Otherwise, if the production is limited to only few enterprises, in others plants of a given variety may be produced illegally • More attention should be paid to preparation of a strategy for protection of varieties of plants exported to Eastern Europe where execution of these regulations is difficult

Research Institute of Pomology and Floriculture Skierniewice, Poland