https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Union_for_the_Protection_of_New_Varieties_of_Plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Union_for_the_Pr...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Union_for_the_Protection_of_New_Varieties_of_Plants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Union_for_the_Pr... https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2013/sep/26/eu-regulation-garden-plants https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2013... https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/plant_propagation_material/plant_variety_catalogues_databases_en https://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/plant_propagation_material/p... Some of the justification I can see is environmental/economical. As per my sibling post - it's there to make sure that a rogue seller doesn't accidentally or intentionally cripple national food production by introducing a crop that is prone to disease and infects/crosses with everything. However there is also "breeder's right" which is more debatable. I'm not sure what actually happened (IANAL), the original proposal came under a lot of fire from retailers and gardeners: http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedlaw2.html http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedlaw2.html