On 30 September 2020, the Administrative Council of the Community Plant Variety Office held its first entirely virtual meeting since the establishment of the CPVO in 1995.
During the meeting, the members of the Administrative Council elected their new Chair and Deputy Chair for the period 2020 - 2023. The new Chair is Mr. Marien Valstar from The Netherlands, who was previously Deputy Chair, and the new Deputy Chair is Dr. José Antonio Sobrino Maté, from Spain. Both assignments took effect on 5 October 2020.
"The election of Marien Valstar as Chair of the CPVO Administrative Council is excellent news. Marien is a respected expert in matters relating to plant policies in general and has detailed insights in plant variety rights and related areas such as seeds and plant propagating materials”, said Martin Ekvad, President of the CPVO.
“Marien represents the Netherlands in various international fora and is presently the President of the UPOV Council. There is no doubt that Marien’s experience will be a very valuable asset to the CPVO, for plant variety protection in Europe and for the recognition of the European Union plant variety rights system globally”, he added.
“I am honoured to have been elected Chair of the Administrative Council which will allow me to work closely with the CPVO to support innovation in the creation of new plant varieties. Coming from a country with a long standing history of plant breeding and seeing the benefits to society stemming from investments in this area, I hope to be able to contribute to the EU PVP system in my capacity as Chair”, explained Marien Valstar.
“The election of José Antonio Sobrino Maté, from Spain, as the new Deputy Chair of the CPVO Administrative Council, is an equally positive news. Juan Antonio is responsible for the Spanish Plant Variety Protection system and Spain is an important country in terms of breeding activities in the EU”, said Martin Ekvad.
“Spain’s know-how in testing new plant varieties is recognised globally, and Spanish authorities are entrusted by the CPVO to test many agricultural, vegetable and fruit crops in over a dozen testing facilities spread out throughout the country. In addition, Spain has the exclusive competence, capacity and entrustment to examine citrus in Valencia”, he concluded.
The CPVO is looking forward to working closely with the new Chair and Deputy Chair of the Administrative Council. CPVO’s President and colleagues also wish to express their sincere gratitude for the excellent work and collaboration with the former Chair, Mrs Bistra Pavlovska from Bulgaria.
Background
The Administrative Council is the budgetary authority of the CPVO, it monitors the CPVO activities, takes decisions on the discharge of the President, adopts general guidelines on matters for which the Office is responsible, advises the CPVO management, submits to the European Commission proposals for amendment of EU legislation on Plant Variety Rights and may issue guidelines on working methods of the Office.
The CPVO Administrative Council was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 of 27 July 1994 on Community plant variety rights and normally meets two times a year. It is composed of a representative of each Member State and a representative of the European Commission, and their alternates. UPOV, EUIPO, CIOPORA, Plantum and Euroseeds participate as observers.