LEGAL ANALYSIS OF INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION FOR THE PROTECTION OF NEW VARIETIES OF PLANTS (UPOV)

The article focuses on the developments concerning amedments which have been made in the UPOV Convention, namely the stages of its adoption and the conditions which Ukraine had to adhere to become a member. This article addresses to the legal analysis of International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the main advantages and disadvantages of this convention are identified. In particular, the main changes from 1961 till recently have been identified and compared in each edition of the UPOV Convention. The judicial practice with the application of this convention is presented. This article has highlighted that for the registration of rights to new plant varieties, we should be guided by the UPOV methods. For the purpose of improving the procedure of the protection rights to plant varieties, the necessity of amending and supplementing the UPOV Convention was substantiated. Therefore, an analysis of the Act of 1978 and Act of 1991 of the UPOV Convention leads to the conclusion that the latest version of the UPOV Convention is a more advanced version than the Act of 1978. In a number of articles, the are more clearly formulated than in the previous document, since these updated norms avoid ambiguities in their interpretation. At the same time, Ukraine has not brought national legislation fully into line with the UPOV Convention, even though that the relevant commitments have been made. However, a positive factor is that over the last few years the significant changes have been made regarding the development and adoption of UPOV Methods in Ukraine, since 2016, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine approved the methods of providing qualification examination for determine distinctness, uniformity, stability and at the same time methods for determination suitability of plant varieties for distribution in Ukraine was also approved. However, the institutional reform, requires further improvement of national legislation, as well as meeting requirements by Ukraine with international obligations.