Technical support on the reference collections for the accredited research and examination centres on plant varieties in OAPI countries

After the entry into force of Annex X of the Bangui Agreement on the Protection of New Varieties of Plants on 20 November 2020, the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), accredited four examination centres, called ‘CENTRE D’EXAMENS DHS’, in Cameroon, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, to conduct technical examinations to test for Distinctiveness, Uniformity and Stability (DUS) prior to the registration of new plant varieties in the OAPI Member States.

The objectives of this activity are to:

• identify possible gaps and weaknesses that exist in the current DUS examination reference collections of the examination centre;

• recommend possible changes to improve the scope and quality of the current reference collections of the examination centre;

• consolidate the reference collections of the examination centre to enable DUS examination testing that is uniform, reliable and of consistent quality, with the overall aim of strengthening the quality and capacity examination under the OAPI plant variety protection system.