French Intellectual Property Code

The application for a plant variety certificate must include in particular: – a description of the manner in which the variety was obtained or discovered; – a full description of the variety with mention of the characteristics which, in the applicant’s opinion, enable it to be distinguished from varieties already known. For varieties whose commercial production requires the repeated use of another variety, the characteristics of that other variety must…

The applicant must attach to the application for a plant variety certificate: 1° A declaration stating: -that the variety for which protection is sought constitutes to his knowledge a new variety within the meaning of Article L. 623-1; -that it has not been offered for sale or marketed in France or in the territory of the European Economic Area with the agreement of the breeder or his successor(s) for more…

Subject to the provisions of article R. 623-7, in order to be registered, the denomination must enable the variety to be identified from any other variety and avoid any risk of confusion with any other variety of the same botanical species or of a closely related species, in France or in States party to the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. It must not be likely…

If the variety has already been the subject of an application for protection in another State with a member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants and if a denomination has been accepted by that member, that denomination must obligatorily be used in France to designate the said variety, unless it has been the subject of observations recognised as justified under the conditions laid down…

The application for a plant variety certificate may include under the conditions provided for by Article L. 623-6 a priority claim attached to an earlier deposit made with one of the members of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants. This claim must be submitted in writing at the same time as the documents provided for in article R. 623-5. It must mention the date and…

The benefit of the right of priority may only be granted if: 1. Within a period of three months from the filing date of the application, the applicant submits to the person in charge of the missions under the national plant variety authority a copy of the documents constituting the previous filing with any other member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, certified as…

The documents whose production is provided for in articles R. 623-4 to R. 623-6 as well as in articles R. 623-15, R. 623-17 and R. 623-36 must be written in the French language. The person in charge of missions under the authority of the national plant variety authority may require that any other document to be sent to him be drawn up in French or accompanied by a translation. .

The benefit of the filing date of the certificate application is acquired if at least the documents referred to in Article R. 623-5, even if these documents are not regular in form. If the filing does not include the aforementioned documents, the application is declared inadmissible and returned to the applicant; any fees paid are refunded. In the event of formal irregularities, these must be rectified within two months of…

As an exception to the provisions of Article R. 623-4, a provisional reference may be given instead of a denomination to designate the variety which is the subject of the application at the time of filing. In this case, the denomination must be proposed, failing which the application will be inadmissible, within two months of the notification sent to the holder of the application by the person in charge of…

A copy of the application for a plant variety certificate is given to the applicant at the time of filing, bearing a visa certifying the day and time of filing of the application and including a registration number. Where the filing is made by post or teletransmission, the copy of the application intended for the applicant may be sent to him by the same means. The date and time of…