Title II: Protection of technical knowledge

The scale of fees for services rendered provided for in the first paragraph of Article L. 623-16 is set by order of the ministers responsible for the budget and agriculture. This scale determines the amount of the fees corresponding to the costs incurred by the national plant variety authority for: investigating the application, depending on the species concerned if the examination is carried out in France; issuing the title; maintaining…

The annual fee provided for in the second paragraph of Article L. 623-16 is payable for the first time on the date of issue of the plant variety certificate. It must be paid within two months of the notification made by the national plant variety authority to the owner of the plant variety certificate. For subsequent years, it expires on the last day of the month of the anniversary date…

Where payment of an annual fee is not made by the normal due date, a warning shall be sent to the holder of the plant variety certificate indicating that he shall incur the forfeiture of his rights if this payment, together with that of the late fee, is not made before the expiry of the period provided for in the third paragraph of article R. 623-31. The absence of a…

Where payment of an annual fee, accompanied, where applicable, by the late payment fee, has not been made within the time limits prescribed above, the person in charge of the tasks falling within the remit of the national plant variety authority shall record the lapse of the breeder’s right. This lapse is entered in the National Register of Plant Variety Certificates and published in the Official Bulletin of the national…

The person in charge of the tasks falling within the remit of the national plant variety authority shall take a decision within two months. If the appeal is rejected, the amount of the last annual fee shall be refunded. The decision of the person in charge of the tasks falling within the remit of the national plant variety authority shall be notified to the owner of the plant variety certificate;…

If the owner of the plant variety certificate has lodged an appeal with the Paris Court of Appeal against the decision of the person in charge of the tasks falling within the remit of the national plant variety authority taken pursuant to Article L. 623-23, mention of the lodging of the appeal is automatically entered in the National Register of Plant Variety Certificates and the effects of the lapse are…