a) Granting for national plant breeders' rights. One of the main tasks of the Board is to grant national plant breeders' rights. This particular form of intellectual property protection for breeders of new plant varieties exists in the Netherlands since 1942. In 1961 PVP was regulated by law in the UPOV Convention. The UPOV convention is the international treaty which requires from its members to set up a UPOV-like PVP system within their boundaries.

Applying for Plant Breeders' Rights in combination with admission to the list does not require extra costs.

European Plant Breeders' Rights Besides National Plant Breeders' Rights, Community Plant Variety Rights are available under the responsibility of The Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO). See www.cpvo.europa.eu.

b) Listing of varieties and forestry stands. Another main task of the Board is listing of new plant varieties. Under the regulations of the European Union only material of agricultural and vegetable material of listed varieties may be marketed. Also the maintainers of the listed varieties should be listed and recorded in the National Plant Variety Register. A maintainer is a person or a company maintaining the variety in its original capacity and characteristics.