Recap from Brussels: Vegetable Expert's Meeting 2023

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Last week, our dedicated team from the Plant Variety Expertise Unit participated in the 2023 Vegetable Expert Meeting. Special thanks to the European Commission and DG Sante for providing a state-of-the-art meeting room in Brussels.

This gathering brought together more than 20 vegetable experts from our network of examination offices and representants of Euroseeds, fostering meaningful and insightful discussions.

Over the course of November 15th and 16th a series of discussions unfolded, driving innovation and collaboration in the field of plant variety protection. While there are still more diliberations to be held, it was clear that the experts made progresses in discussions on various subject matters.

Key Highlights

  • The CPVO is working towards clarifying characterisitics from CPVO technical protocols that may only be observed once, enhancing the efficiency of DUS examination. 
  • Our commitment has been reinforced towards adopting IBEB's recommendations, particularly concerning the integration of Bremia resistance characteristics into our examination protocols.
  • Discussions are underway to clairify expectations to breeders in seed germination rates and improvment of processes for collecting and monitoring seed stocks for reference collections of the EU Examination Offices.
  • The group received presentations from the coordinators of several R&D projects currently funded by the CPVO, as well as a presentation from Jospeh Peller from Wageningen University on progressres made in image analysis in the INVITE project for the putpose to assist examiners and improve of observations in DUS tests.
  • The group agreed to the principle of a discussion of technical amendments throughout the year using video conferencing facilities, while identifying subject matters that should be discussed in yearly meetings in person.

A heartfelt thank you to all the experts and stakeholders who contributed to these enriching and informative meetings. Your insights and collaboration are pivotal in shaping a sustainable and innovative future in plant variety protection.

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