The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), effective immediately, will post only certificates of protection. Application documents will no longer be posted in their entirety on the Certificate Management System (CMS) website, and all current posted application documents will be removed by September 1, 2025 to be in compliance with USDA’s updated Personally Identifiable Information (PII) handling protocols and requirements.
In our effort to implement a well-planned and timely solution, plant variety information extracted from applications and compliant with PII requirements will now be available at the brand-new Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) Online Dashboard (POD) website, also to be launched on Sept. 1, 2025.
At the POD website, the public can access complete details of plant varieties protected by PVPO, including plant breeding history, statement of distinctness, variety description, and ownership details.
The POD website is a joint project between PVPO and the Agricultural Research Service Partnerships for Data Innovations Office. The link to the POD website will be available from the main PVPO webpage. POD contains full application details of plant varieties protected by PVPO from 2018 to the present. PVPO will continue to complete data updates for varieties protected before 2018.
We appreciate your cooperation with these changes as we continue to prioritize data privacy and improve access to key resources. If you have questions, please contact our office at PVPOMail@usda.gov for assistance.
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