Private and non-commercial use project

For subsistence and amateur farmers, the UPOV Convention of 1991 grants an exception for acts done privately and for non-commercial purposes. The Government of the Netherlands has supported the project ‘Private and non-commercial use’, which has been implemented jointly by the civil society organization Oxfam Novib and the sector association Plantum since 2017. The objective is to investigate the scope and possible implementation of this provision within the UPOV Convention of 1991, thereby trying to create clarity about the legal space of subsistence farmers to exchange and/or sell farm-saved seeds in the informal seed system. The project takes the views of stakeholder organizations (including governments, farmers, seed industry, civil society organizations and other international organizations) into consideration. Currently, the project is focusing on specific country case studies. By supporting this project, as well as stimulating the discussion on the private and non-commercial use exception on an international level, the Netherlands hope to create a constructive dialogue about the possibilities for subsistence farmers to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seeds.