Reprinted as at 1 July 2013 Plant Variety Rights Act 1987 Part 1 s 10
(a) subject to sections 11 and 31(2), make a grant in respect of every application that is eligible for the making of a grant; and
(b) decline to make a grant in respect of every application that is not eligible for the making of a grant.
(2) An application shall be eligible for the making of a grant if, and only if, the applicant has given the Commissioner all re- productive material of the variety concerned requested by the Commissioner, and the Commissioner— (a) has approved for that variety a denomination proposed
by the applicant; and (b) is satisfied that that applicant is an owner of that variety;
and (c) has received the prescribed fee; and (d) is satisfied that that variety is new, distinct, homoge-
neous, and stable. (3) The Commissioner shall approve a proposed denomination for
a variety if, and only if, in the opinion of the Commissioner, it complies with the prescribed requirements.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2)(d),— (a) subject to subsection (6), a variety is new if there has
been no sale of that variety with the agreement of any relevant owner of that variety— (i) in New Zealand, for more than 12 months before
the date on which that application was made; and (ii) overseas, for more than 6 years before that date
in the case of a woody plant, or for more than 4 years before that date in every other case:
(b) a variety is distinct if it is distinguishable by 1 or more characteristics from any other variety whose existence was a matter of common knowledge when the applica- tion concerned was made.
(c) a variety is stable if, in its essential characteristics, it remains true to its description— (i) where the applicant concerned has described par-
ticular cycles of reproduction or multiplication for that variety, at the end of each such cycle; and
(ii) in every other case, after repeated propagation or reproduction.
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