Increases in APHA fees for plant breeders’ rights

The APHA has announced increases for a number of fees relating to the filing of applications for plant breeders’ rights (PBRs) and Great Britain and Northern Ireland (GB and NI) variety listings, which will take effect from 1 February 2026.

Applying for a new plant breeders’ right in the UK requires the payment of the following fees:

an administration fee; and
a distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) testing fee per year of testing or a fee for purchasing a DUS report from another testing authority.

Most notably, the administration fee for PBR applications will increase from £598 to £769.

The APHA has not stated if the cost of purchasing a DUS report from another testing authority will increase but has indicated that the following DUS testing fees will also increase:

Crop	Existing fee (£)	New fee (£)
Vegetable pea	1,515	1,683.17
Field pea	1,575	1,749.83
Swede	1,050	1,166.55
Annual charge for Swede	180	199.98
Turnip Rape	1,560	1,733.16
Potato	1,090	1,199.98
Annual charge for potato	235	261.09
Winter cereals	1,131.39	1,196.18
Spring cereals	1,131.39	1,196.18
Field beans arrangement fee	3,428.62	3,859.74
WOSR fodder rape + fodder kale	2,015.82	2,315.27
Sugar beet	689.17	727.66
Ornamentals (glasshouse)	2,584.39	2,682.18
Ornamentals (outdoors)	2,239.8	2,318.45

In addition, for GB/NI Variety Listings there will be increases in the fees for value for cultivation and use (VCU) administration and potato testing fees.

According to the APHA, fees will continue to be reviewed annually, with any further fee changes to be implemented in July 2026 and April from 2027 onwards.

If you have any questions on these fee increases and how they will affect your plant breeders’ right filings, or if you would like more details on anything related to plant varieties, then please get in touch with Alice Smart and Rachel Mercer.