The United Arab Emirates has enacted Federal Law No. 8 of 2025 on the Protection of New Plant Varieties. This new law, which came into effect on 1 January 2026, replaces the earlier Federal Law No. 17 of 2009 to align with the standards of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), established under the 1961 Act of the International Convention and as further reflected in subsequent Acts. This ensures that the UAE adheres to globally recognised best practices in the protection of plant breeders’ rights.
For this purpose, the law establishes a dedicated register at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MOCCAE), with the aim of strengthening breeders’ rights, encouraging agricultural innovation, and enhancing food security and biosecurity strategies. It marks a significant advancement in the country’s plant variety protection regime. With such legal measures and safeguards in place, the UAE aims to foster greater confidence among breeders, encourage investment in agricultural research, plant breeding, and biotechnology, and contribute to long-term food security.
Under the new law, applicants may register new plant varieties with the MOCCAE, which is fully equipped to handle applications, record breeders’ rights, and manage protected varieties, while ensuring greater transparency and regulatory oversight.
Criteria for Plant Variety Protection
For a plant variety to qualify for protection, it must satisfy internationally recognised criteria, namely that it must be new, distinct, uniform, and stable (DUS). This means that:
- the candidate plant variety must possess absolute novelty;
- it must be clearly distinguishable from any other existing variety whose existence is a matter of common knowledge;
- the plants of the variety must be sufficiently uniform in their relevant characteristics, allowing for expected variation based on the method of propagation; and
- the characteristics of the variety must remain unchanged (stable) after repeated propagation.
This is a mandatory testing protocol used to evaluate new plant varieties for registration and plant breeders’ rights. These criteria ensure that only genuinely innovative and reproducible plant varieties receive legal protection.
Applications must include essential identifiers such as the plant’s scientific and common names, a proposed denomination reflecting a key trait or genetic advancement, and the country of origin. Clearly defining the botanical and common names, including Arabic equivalents where relevant, assists in classifying a plant within its biological taxonomy and aids the examiner’s understanding.
Rights of Plant Breeders
The law clearly defines the rights granted to breeders, including exclusive control over the production, reproduction, sale, and commercialisation of protected plant varieties. It also clarifies the role and powers of the Registrar in administering these rights.
Furthermore, the law provides for certain limited exceptions to plant breeders’ rights. These rights do not extend to acts carried out for private and non-commercial use, experimental purposes, or for developing new plant varieties, subject to specific conditions. Additionally, small farmers are permitted to use protected varieties for propagation on their own land, provided such use remains within reasonable limits and respects the legitimate interests of the breeder.
However, this exemption does not apply to fruit varieties, ornamental plants, vegetables, or forest plants. The detailed procedures, including the list of eligible agricultural plants and the information to be provided by farmers, will be specified in the implementing regulations.
Duration of Protection
The protection period is 20 years for most plant varieties and 25 years for trees and vines, calculated from the date of grant of protection. This provides long-term incentives for research and development in plant breeding.
Penalties and Enforcement Mechanism
To ensure compliance, the law introduces strict penal provisions.
A penalty of imprisonment for a term of not less than two months and a fine of not less than AED 10,000 and not exceeding AED 250,000, or either of these penalties, shall be imposed upon:
A. Any person who, without obtaining authorisation from the plant breeder, undertakes activities including production or reproduction (multiplication), conditioning for the purpose of propagation, offering for sale, sale or other marketing, export, import, or stocking for such purposes of propagating material of a protected variety.
B. Any person who, without obtaining the consent of the plant breeder, performs the above activities in respect of:
- harvested material;
- products made directly from harvested material of the protected variety;
- varieties essentially derived from the protected variety, where the protected variety is not itself an essentially derived variety;
- varieties not clearly distinguishable from the protected variety pursuant to Article 8 of Federal Law No. 8 of 2025;
- varieties whose production requires repeated use of the protected variety.
C. Any person who, without obtaining the consent of the plant breeder, carries out further propagation of the variety or exports material enabling its propagation to a State that does not provide legal protection for such varieties, unless the purpose of export is consumption.
D. The penalty shall be doubled in the event of recidivism.
E. The court may order the confiscation and destruction of infringing materials at the expense of the offender. Where the offence is committed in the name of or for the account of a legal person or commercial or professional establishment, the court may order closure for a period not exceeding 180 days. A summary of the conviction judgment may also be published in one or more daily newspapers at the expense of the convicted party.
Overall, the law supports the UAE’s broader strategic objectives of enhancing food security, encouraging innovation in agriculture, and building a knowledge-based economy by protecting intellectual property in plant breeding.
For any intellectual property or plant breeders’ rights–related queries, please feel free to contact Rajiv Suri at r.suri@alsuwaidi.ae. or Harleen Kaur at h.kaur@alsuwaidi.ae