Timeframes and fees: application part 1

Registering a plant breeder's right (PBR) takes approximately two and a half years and costs about $2,300, plus external fees.

Steps to secure a PBR

There's a two-part process to a PBR application in Australia. From start to finish, the process takes two and a half years however, this may vary depending on the type of plant, and how long the growing trial takes.

This is the process for granting a PBR:

  1. You submit part 1 of your application

  2. We examine your application to determine if it's eligible for part 2

  3. We accept eligible applications and on acceptance, your variety receives provisional protection.

Once your variety receives provisional protection, we encourage you to label it as protected.

To pursue full PBR protection for your variety, you'll then need to complete part 2 of your application.

Application part 2

  • 1. Application part 1
  • 2. Examination part 1
  • 3. Acceptance

1. Application part 1

You'll need to:

  • Complete the part 1 application form
  • Nominate your Qualified Person (QP)
  • Include images of your candidate variety to show us what it looks like.

Costs depend on how you want to submit your application.

Application part 1 fees

Action Fee
Application part 1 (submitted via online services) $345
Application part 1 (submitted via PRISMA) $345 and a 90 Swiss Franc UPOV fee

If you're submitting your application through PRISMA, you'll need to make sure that your $345 fee has been paid before you we can progress your application. Please contact us if you need assistance. 

Postal application fees

If you can't submit your application online, you can post it to us. Please note, higher fees apply.

Action Fee
Application part 1 $545

2. Examination part 1

Part 1 will be examined by us for acceptance. We'll aim to complete an initial examination of your application within eight weeks. If there aren't any issues with your application, we'll accept it.

If there are issues with your application, we'll send you an examination report that outlines our concerns. You'll have the ability to respond. In some cases, it may take a few iterations to fix the application. You won't need to pay a fee to make amendments that have been requested by us.

3. Acceptance

Once your application fulfils our requirements, we'll accept it and let you know via your online services inbox or email.

The period of provisional protection begins at acceptance but is backdated to the date of filing.

Once your variety receives provisional protection, we encourage you to label it as protected.

We'll contact your nominated Qualified Person and work with them to start developing a growing trial.