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The South African Plant Improvement Act No. 11 of 2018 (the “Act”) came into operation on 1 December 2025 (the previous Plant Improvement Act No. 53 of 1976 is now repealed).
The Act is a comprehensive piece of legislation that provides a framework for the exploitation of certain plants, as prescribed in the regulations to the Act, and propagating material thereof, in South Africa.
The Act provides inter alia for the registration of certain types of businesses or business premises, national listing of plant varieties, examination and inspection of plant varieties, and import and export control of plants and propagating material.
It is a requirement for businesses and business premises to be registered under the Act if such businesses wish to conduct business relating to the prescribed kinds of plants, or propagating material of such plants, for cultivation or sale in South Africa.
The Act also provides for the establishment of schemes for the certification of plants and propagating material of the prescribed kinds of plants, in order to uphold the quality of plants and propagating material.
To sell or import a variety of the prescribed kinds of plants in or into South Africa, for the purposes of cultivation, it is a requirement to obtain a national varietal listing for such a variety. Obtaining such a listing may take a number of years.
To obtain such a listing, a subject variety must have an acceptable denomination, be clearly distinguishable from any other variety included in the national varietal list, have sufficiently uniform characteristics, and be stable in those characteristics after repeated propagation. Considering the overlap in allowability requirements, varietal listing applications are typically made in tandem with plant breeders' rights applications, where possible from a registrability perspective.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
