On April 3, 2023, the U.S. Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) held a preparatory session for the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) Technical Working Party for Vegetables (TWV) and Technical Working Party for Agricultural Crops (TWA) virtual meetings in May. This session was to provide an opportunity for feedback and comments on the UPOV Test Guidelines and the PVPO Exhibit C forms.

In regard to the UPOV Test Guidelines, the PVPO will be submitting comments received on the PVPO Hemp (Cannabis) form to the UPOV Technical Working Party. As of April 3, 2023, there were no plans for the PVPO to submit comments on any of the other crops that will be discussed in the May meetings.

In regard to the PVPO Exhibit C forms, the PVPO is currently in the process of aligning Exhibit C forms for all crops with the UPOV Test Guidelines. The Exhibit C forms are being updated on an as-requested basis, which means that only those forms that have been updated are currently available on the PVPO website. You can contact the Office (via AMS.PVPOForms@usda.gov) to request specific forms, ask about the status of specific forms, or ask other form-related questions. Over time, all of the forms will be updated.

The PVPO stated that some older characteristics, which have been important for variety searches in the past, will be retained on the updated Exhibit C forms. In addition, the PVPO will retain quantitative traits in the updated Exhibit C forms.

There is a new “area of adaptation” section on the updated Exhibit C forms, which will include options for both field-grown varieties and greenhouse-grown varieties. Over time, the PVPO will be updating its dashboard to display varieties by their area of adaptation, to facilitate variety searching. This dashboard will eventually replace the current certificate management system.

If you have any comments on Exhibit C forms, they can be submitted to the Plant Variety Protection Office via email (pvpomail@usda.gov), and the Examiner who handles the crops will review.

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