47. Volume 14- Number 2 - IP Australia

Overseas Testing/Data
The PBR Act allows DUS data produced in other countries
(overseas data) be used in lieu of conducting a comparative
trial in Australia provided certain conditions relating to the
filing of applications, sufficiency of the data and the
likelihood that the candidate variety will express the
distinctive characteristic(s) in the same way when grown
locally. Briefly the overseas data could be considered
where:
• The first PBR application relating to the candidate
variety has been lodged overseas, and
• the variety has previously been test grown in a UPOV
member country using official UPOV test guidelines
and test procedures, (ie. equivalent to a comparative trial
in Australia) and
• either, all the most similar varieties of common
knowledge (including those in Australia) have been
included in the overseas DUS trial, or
• the new overseas variety is so clearly distinct from all
the Australian varieties of common knowledge that
further DUS test growing is not warranted, and
• sufficient data and descriptive information is available
to publish a description of the variety in an accepted
format in Plant Varieties Journal; and to satisfy the
requirements of the PBR Act.
TAXA THAT MUST BE TRIALLED IN
AUSTRALIA
It is the policy of this office to not accept overseas data
for the following taxa due to the wide genotype by
environment interactions that have been previously
experienced. Varietal descriptions from overseas trials
have consistently been different from those obtained
from trials grown under Australian conditions.
Consequently, for the following taxon a full PBR trial
must be conducted in Australia:
Solanum tuberosum Potato
The Qualified Person, in consultation with the
agent/applicant, and perhaps other specialists and
taxonomists, will need to evaluate the overseas data, test
report and photographs to see if the application does fulfil
all PBR Office requirements, and then advise the
agent/applicant:
• either, to submit Part 2 incorporating a description for
publication, any additional data and photographs and to
pay the examination fee;
• or, to conduct a DUS trial in Australia, recommending to
the applicant/agent which additional varieties of
common knowledge to include;
• or, submit Part 2 including additional data (information
about similar varieties in Australia to show that they are
clearly distinct from the candidate variety that a further
DUS test growing including the similar varieties is not
warranted and that the variety displays the distinctive
characteristics when grown in Australia)
Please note that the PBR office does not obtain overseas
DUS test reports on behalf of applicants. It is the sole
responsibility of the applicants to obtain these reports
directly from the relevant overseas testing authorities.
Where applicants already have the report they are advised to
submit a certified true copy of the report with the Part 1
application. Applicants, or those duly authorised, may
certify the copy.
If you do not have the test report available at the time of
Part-1 application then you are advised to submit the Part-1
application without the test report. However, you should
make arrangements to procure the DUS test report directly
from the relevant testing authority. When the report
becomes available, a certified copy should be supplied to
the QP and the PBR office.
When the trial is based on an UPOV technical guideline and
test report in an official UPOV language (English, German
or French), it can be lodged in support of the application. In
other cases the test reports must be in English.
The applicant/agent and Qualified Person should use the
overseas test report to complete Part 2 of the application,
making a decision on how to proceed in view of the
completeness of the information, the comparators (if any)
used in the overseas DUS trial and their knowledge of
similar Australian varieties that may not have been included
in the overseas test report.
If a description is based on an overseas test report,
Australian PBR will not be granted until after the decision
to grant PBR in the country producing the DUS test is
made. The final decision on the acceptability of overseas
data rest with the PBR office.
Descriptions from the Voluntary
Cereal Registration Scheme
Following the closure of the Voluntary Cereal Registration
Scheme, we have been advised that no more descriptions of
cereal varieties registered under this voluntary scheme will
be published in the Plant Varieties Journal. The editorial
committee of the Plant Varieties Journal would like to
thank the registrar and the contributing authors for their
support and help during the publication of the descriptions
from the Voluntary Cereal Registration Scheme.
Staff
PLANT VARIETIES JOURNAL 2001 VOL 14 NO. 2
We would like to welcome Mr. Dale Thomas and Ms
Michelle Long in the PBR team. Mr. Thomas will work as
the Resource Co-ordinator. He has experience in financial
and resource management. Ms Long will work as an
Administration Officer within the PBR scheme. She has
experience in office administration.
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