Article 6U.K.Examination of applications
1.Member States shall ensure that, where a responsible official body receives an application for registration of a variety as a variety with an official description, an examination of that variety is performed in accordance with paragraphs 2, 3 and 4.
2.Growing trials shall be carried out to establish an official description of the variety.
Where the applicant submits information in accordance with Article 5(3)(a) and the responsible official body considers that this information shows that the conditions for registration provided for in Article 4 are fulfilled, no growing trials shall, however, be carried out.
Where growing trials are to be carried out, the responsible official body shall request a sample of the material of the variety.
3.The growing trials referred to in paragraph 2 shall be performed by:
(a)the responsible official body receiving the application; or
(b)the responsible official body of another Member State having agreed to perform those trials; or
(c)any legal person, in accordance with Article 13(2) of Directive 2008/90/EC.
Where point (c) applies and trials are carried out on the premises of private enterprises, the responsible official body shall ensure that no measures are applied that might interfere with the official examination.
4.The growing trials shall be performed in accordance with the following provisions as regards trial design, growing conditions and characteristics of the variety to be covered as a minimum:
(a)the ‘Protocols for distinctness, uniformity and stability tests’ of the Administrative Council of the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) applicable at the beginning of the technical examination; or, where no protocols have been published for the relevant species;
(b)the ‘Test guidelines for the conduct of tests for distinctness, uniformity and stability’ of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) applicable at the beginning of the technical examination; or, where no guidelines have been published for the relevant species;
(c)national provisions.
5.If based on the examination referred to in paragraph 1, the responsible official body concludes that the variety concerned fulfils the conditions of Article 5 it shall establish an official description and include that variety in the variety register.