Section 1 : Issue of plant variety certificates

Before the end of the period provided for in the last paragraph of article L. 623-9, the bans prescribed in the first paragraph of the said article may be extended, at the request of the Minister for Defence, for a renewable period of one year. Extended bans may be lifted at any time under the same condition. The extension of bans imposed under this article entitles the holder of the…

The certificate holder may request a review of the compensation provided for in Article L. 623-10, after the expiry of the one-year period following the date of the final judgment setting the amount of compensation. The certificate holder must provide proof that the loss it has suffered exceeds the court’s estimate.

The certificate shall only be issued if a prior examination shows that the variety for which protection is sought constitutes a new plant variety in accordance with Article L. 623-2. However, the body referred to in Article L. 412-1 may consider as sufficient the prior examination carried out in another State party to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. The same body may take into…

The term of protection shall be twenty-five years from the date of grant. For forest, fruit or ornamental trees, vines and perennial forage grasses and legumes, potatoes and inbred lines used for the production of hybrid varieties, the term of protection shall be thirty years. .

Applications for plant variety certificates, acts granting the certificate and any acts transmitting or modifying the rights attached to an application for a certificate or to a certificate may only be relied on as against third parties if they have been duly published under conditions laid down by decree in the Conseil d’Etat.

The certificate designates the variety by a denomination enabling it to be identified, without confusion or equivocation, in all the States party to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. The breeder is required to keep a vegetative collection of the protected variety at all times. A description of the new variety is appended to the breeder’s certificate. The certificate is enforceable against third parties as…

Preliminary examination, issue of the certificate and all acts of registration or deletion give rise to the payment of fees for services rendered. A fee is paid annually throughout the period of validity of the certificate. The scale of these fees is set by regulation. The proceeds of these fees are transferred as revenue to the public interest group mentioned in Article L. 412-1.