France ratifies the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention

The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) was established by the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants ("UPOV Convention"). The UPOV Convention was adopted on December 2, 1961, by a Diplomatic Conference held in Paris.

The UPOV Convention came into force on August 10, 1968, having been ratified by the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany. The UPOV Convention has been revised on November 10, 1972, on October 23, 1978, and on March 19, 1991, in order to reflect technological developments in plant breeding and experience acquired with the application of the UPOV Convention.UPOV is an intergovernmental organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. 

The mission of UPOV is to provide and promote an effective system of plant variety protection, with the aim of encouraging the development of new varieties of plants, for the benefit of society.

The UPOV Convention provides the basis for members to encourage plant breeding by granting breeders of new plant varieties an intellectual property right: the breeder's right. 

The Government of France deposited its instrument of ratification of the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants on April 27, 2012.

France, which is already one of the seventy members of UPOV, is the fiftieth member to become bound by the 1991 Act of the UPOV Convention. The 1991 Act will enter into force for France on May 27, 2012, one month after the deposit of its instrument of ratification.