Today Iceland became the sixty-first member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).

The purpose of the UPOV Convention is to encourage the development of new varieties of plants by granting breeders an intellectual property right on the basis of a set of clearly defined principles.  To be eligible for protection, varieties need to satisfy certain conditions, such as being distinct from existing, commonly known varieties and sufficiently uniform and stable.  New varieties of plants are one of the most powerful tools to enhance food production in a sustainable way, to increase income in the agricultural sector and to contribute to overall development.

The Secretary-General of UPOV, Dr. Kamil Idris, welcomed the deposit of the instrument of accession of Iceland to the UPOV Convention (1991 Act) and expressed his satisfaction that UPOV has now reached 61 members.

The members of UPOV are:

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, European Community, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland (as of May 3, 2006), Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay
and Uzbekistan.

UPOV is an intergovernmental organization which is based in Geneva.