New Plant Varieties

– Breeder's Right Act No. 58/2000, in force since April 10, 2003.

Membership in International Conventions

– International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 1991 Act, since May 3, 2006.

Filing and Protection

Applicant: the breeder of a new plant variety. 

Foreigners: applicants not domiciled in Iceland or within the European Economic Area (EEA), must appoint a representative. 

Conditions for protection: a variety must be new, i.e. propagating or harvested material of the variety has not been sold or offered for public sale or otherwise disposed of, by or with the consent of the breeder, for the purposes of commercial utilization of the variety: (a) in Iceland for longer than one year before filing the application; or (b) in another country for longer than four years, or in the case of trees or of vines, six years.

Priority: within twelve months from filing the first application in a UPOV member country.

Duration: twenty-five years, provided annual fees are paid.

Note: although plant varieties can be protected under the above-mentioned Act, a formal Committee for plant variety protection has yet to be established and therefore, no plant variety has yet been registered. More information will be provided in a future release.