Decision on the entry of a variety in the national variety list, inclusion of a variety in the common catalogue of varieties of the European Union

The national variety list is an official list of varieties of agricultural plants.

The seed units of the varieties of agricultural plants entered in the national variety list of one of the European Union Member States or the common catalogue of varieties of the European Union, kept by the European Commission (the entry is not mandatory for ornamental plants) may be produced (with the marketing purpose) and marketed in the Republic of Slovenia.

The procedure of entering a variety in the national variety list is initiated on the basis of a written application with the competent authority.

An application for the entry in the national variety list may be lodged by an applicant who is a variety breeder or maintainer, or other natural or legal entity who has the right to dispose the variety's seed units.

The prescribed deadlines must be taken into account when entering the application of the variety in the procedure of entering in the national variety list.

The variety must be distinct, uniform and stable and also have an appropriate name to be entered in the national variety list. For this purpose, the variety must be included in appropriate variety field tests for the verification of distinctness, uniformity and stability (RIN), while in varieties of field crops, vines and hops the variety test also verify their value for the production and use (VPU).

If a variety fulfils all conditions for the entry in the national variety list and the applicant also settles fee costs, the Administration issues the decision on the entry of the variety in the national variety list.

The maintainer of the sort must pay the annual fee for the variety entered in the national variety list as per the Decree on the annual fee for varieties entered in the Agricultural Plant Variety List and on fees and costs for plant variety protection.

At the request of the Administration, the maintainer of the variety is obliged to provide a free-of-charge sample of the seed units of the variety to verify the proper maintenance of the variety.

Due to the preservation of biotic variety or sustainable use of genetic resources, also a variety may be entered in the national variety list which does not fulfil all conditions for the entry in the national variety list, if it refers to the preservation of a variety of field crops and vegetables, variety of vegetable which has no important value for market production of vegetable or old variety of fruit plants.

The varieties entered in the national variety list are included in the common catalogue of varieties of the European Union by the European Commission.