Canada has notified WIPO that Canada has ratified the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. The treaty will enter into force on July 19, 2015 which follows the amendments earlier this year to the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act.

Canada formally notified WIPO on June 19, 2015. The ratification follows amendments made to the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act in Bill C-18, the Agricultural Growth Act which came into force in February, 2015.

The amendments introduce new protections for plant breeders, including a longer term of protection to 20 or 25 years, as well as a farmers’ privilege:

5.3 (2) The rights referred to in paragraphs 5(1)(a) and (b) and – for the purposes of exercising those rights and the right to store – the right referred to in paragraph 5(1)(g) do not apply to harvested material of the plant variety that is grown by a farmer on the farmer’s holdings and used by the farmer on those holdings for the sole purpose of propagation of the plant variety.