Document
Plant Variety Protection Office: Notice of Request for Extension of a Currently Approved Information Collection
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intention to request approval from the Office of Managem...
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title:
“Application for Plant Variety Protection Certification and Objective Description of Variety.”
OMB Number:
0581-0055.
Expiration Date of Approval:
January 30, 2027.
Type of Request:
Extension of a currently approved information collection.
Abstract:
The Plant Variety Protection Act (PVPA) (
7 U.S.C. 2321
et seq.) was established: “To encourage the development of novel varieties of sexually reproduced plants and make them available to the public, providing protection available to those who breed, develop, or discover them, and thereby promote progress in agriculture in the public interest.”
The PVPA is a voluntary user-funded program that grants intellectual property rights protection to breeders of new, distinct, uniform, and stable sexually reproduced, tuber propagated, and asexually reproduced plant varieties. To obtain these rights the applicant must provide information which shows the variety is eligible for protection and that it is indeed new, distinct, uniform, and stable as the law requires.
Application forms, descriptive forms, and ownership forms are furnished to applicants to identify the information which is required to be furnished by the applicant to legally issue a certificate of protection (ownership). The certificate is based on claims of the breeder and cannot be issued based on reports in publications not submitted by the applicant. Regulations implementing the PVPA appear at 
7 CFR part 92.
Applicant's Ownership ST-470, Application for Plant Variety Protection Certificate; ST-470 A, Origin and Breeding History; ST-470 B, Statement of Distinctness; Form ST-470 series, Objective Description of Variety (Exhibit C);
and
Form ST-470-E, Basis of Applicant's Ownership
are the basis by which the determination, by experts at PVPO, is made as to whether a new, distinct, uniform, and stable seed reproduced or tuber-propagated variety in fact exists and is entitled to protection. The ST-470 application form combines Exhibits A, B, and E into one form. The information received on applications, with certain exceptions, is required by law to remain confidential until the certificate is issued (7 U.S.C. 2426).
The information collection requirements in this request are essential to carry out the intent of the PVPA, to provide applicants with certificates of protection, to provide the respondents with the type of service they request, and to administer the program.
Estimate of Burden:
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 1 hour per response.
Respondents:
Businesses or other for profit, not-for-profit institutions, and the Federal Government.
Estimated Number of Respondents:
95.
Estimated Total Annual Responses:
2,132.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent:
22.4.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents:
2,185.05.
Comments are invited on:
(1) whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Comments may be sent to the Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO), Science and Technology, Agricultural Marketing Service, USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Room 2915-S, Stop 0274, Washington, DC 20250 or by email to
AMS.PVPOForms@usda.gov.
All comments received will be available for public inspection during regular business hours at the same address.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will become a matter of public record.
Melissa Bailey,
Associate Administrator, Agricultural Marketing Service.
www.regulations.gov