I received an email from the CPVO about their website and looked around on it. There is a link below about what to do for rose applications. It sounds a lot like the Canadian system where plants are grown at a sponsored location and compared to a similar cultivar as part of the process of determining if something is different and in some way useful I believe too. The useful part seems subjective!!
The US Plant Patent system seems relatively easier in that we just fill out our own botanical information and it is reviewed without them typically ever growing and looking firsthand at the plant.
David
Link: www.cpvo.europa.eu/documents/TP/ornementales/TP_011-2_ROSE_rev.pdf