several species vegetable seeds in bags

National Variety Register

Do you have a vegetable or agricultural variety that you want to trade within the European Union (EU)? Then admission to a national catalogue of 1 of the EU Member States is required. Only then a variety can be traded within the EU. The varieties accepted in the Netherlands in the Catalogue are registered in the national variety register (NRR). Managing the national variety register is 1 of the tasks of the Board for plant varieties.

 

Requirements for admission of a variety in brief

A variety of a vegetable crop:

  • Must meet the DUS (Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability) criteria.
  • The variety must have an accepted name.

A variety of an agricultural crop:

  • Additionally, for a variety of an agricultural crop, it must meet the requirement of the Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU-test).

Compulsory admission (registration) is needed for the vast majority of varieties of agricultural, vegetable and fruit crops, but not to varieties of ornamental crops

If admission is not compulsory (to market the variety), inspection rules do apply to varieties of these crops. See the Naktuinbouw website for fruit and vegetable crops and the NAK website for agricultural crops.

Do you want more information about edible ornamentals? Please read our news item.