Section 1 U.K. Actions of the applicant
Article 16U.K.Filing of the application
1.An application for a Community plant variety right shall be filed at the Office, at the national agencies designated or the sub-offices established pursuant to Article 30(4) of the basic Regulation.
Where the application is filed at the Office it may be filed in paper format or by electronic means. Where it is filed at the national agencies or sub-offices it shall be filed in paper format in duplicate.
2.The information sent to the Office in accordance with Article 49(1)(b) of the basic Regulation shall contain:
particulars for identifying the applicant and, where appropriate, his procedural representative,
the national agency or sub-office at which the application for a Community plant variety right was filed, and
the provisional designation of the variety concerned.
3.The Office shall make available the following forms free of charge:
(a)an application form and a technical questionnaire, for the purposes of filing an application for a Community plant variety right;
(b)a form for forwarding the information referred to in paragraph 2, indicating the consequences of any failure of the forwarding.
4.The applicant shall fill in and sign the forms provided for in paragraph 3. Where the application is submitted by electronic means it shall comply with the second subparagraph of Article 57(3) as regards the signature.
Article 17U.K.Receipt of the application
[F11. Where a national agency or sub-office exercising the specific administrative functions referred to in Article 30(4) of the basic Regulation receives an application, it shall, by electronic means, send to the Office a confirmation of receipt and forward the application in accordance with Article 49(2) of the basic Regulation. The confirmation of receipt shall include the file number of the national agency or sub-office, the nature and the number of forwarded documents and the date of receipt at the national agency or sub-office. The national agency or sub-office shall transmit to the applicant a copy of the confirmation of receipt sent to the Office, by electronic or other means.
2. Where the Office receives an application from the applicant directly or via a national agency or sub-office, it shall, without prejudice to other provisions, mark the documents making up the application with a file number and the date of receipt at the Office and issue a confirmation of receipt to the applicant. That confirmation shall include the file number of the Office, the nature and the number of documents received, the date of receipt at the Office and the date of application within the meaning of Article 51 of the basic Regulation. A copy of the confirmation of receipt shall be transmitted to the national agency or sub-office via which the Office has received the application.]
3.If the Office receives an application via a sub-office or national agency more than one month after its filing by the applicant, the ‘date of application’ within the meaning of Article 51 of the basic Regulation may not be earlier than the date of receipt at the Office, unless the Office establishes on the basis of sufficient documentary evidence that the applicant has forwarded an information to it in accordance with Article 49(1)(b) of the basic Regulation and Article 16(2) of this Regulation.
Textual Amendments
Article 18U.K.Conditions laid down in Article 50(1) of the basic Regulation
1.If the Office finds that the application does not comply with the conditions laid down in Article 50(1) of the basic Regulation, it shall notify to the applicant the deficiencies it has found, stating that only such date as sufficient information remedying those deficiencies is received shall be treated as the date of application for the purposes of Article 51 of that Regulation.
2.An application complies with the condition laid down in Article 50(1)(i) of the basic Regulation only if date and country of any first disposal within the meaning of Article 10(1) of that Regulation are indicated, or if, in the absence of such disposal a declaration is made that no such disposal has occurred.
[F13. An application complies with the condition laid down in Article 50(1)(j) of the basic Regulation only if the date and the country given in any earlier application for the variety are, to the best of the applicant's knowledge, indicated in respect of:
(a) an application for a property right in respect of the variety, in a Member State or a member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants ( ‘ UPOV ’ ); and
(b) an application for official acceptance of the variety for certification and marketing where official acceptance includes an official description of the variety.]
Textual Amendments
Article 19U.K.Conditions referred to in Article 50(2) of the basic Regulation
1.If the Office finds that the application does not comply with the provisions of paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 of this Article or with Article 16 of this Regulation, it shall apply Article 17(2) hereof, but shall require the applicant to remedy the deficiencies it has found within such time limit as it may specify. Where those deficiencies are not remedied in good time the Office shall without delay refuse the application, pursuant to Article 61(1)(a) of the basic Regulation.
[F12. The applicant shall provide the following information in the application form or in the technical questionnaire referred to in Article 16(3)(a), where relevant:
(a) the identity and the contact details of the applicant, his designation as a party to proceedings referred to in Article 2 and, where appropriate, the name and address of the procedural representative;
(b) where the applicant is not the breeder, the name and address of the breeder and his entitlement to apply for the Community plant variety right;
(c) the scientific name of the genus, species or subspecies to which the variety belongs, and the common name;
(d) the variety denomination or, in the absence thereof, the provisional designation;
(e) the location in which the variety was bred or discovered and developed, and the maintenance and the propagation of the variety, including information on the characteristics, the cultivation of any other variety or varieties the material of which has to be used repeatedly for the production of the variety. For material to be used repeatedly for the production of the variety, the applicant may provide the information concerning such material, if he requests so, in the form provided by the Office pursuant to Article 86;
(f) the characteristics of the variety, including the state of expression for certain characteristics based on the technical questionnaire referred to in Article 16(3)(a);
(g) where appropriate, similar varieties and differences from those varieties, which, in the applicant's opinion, are relevant for the technical examination;
(h) additional information that may help distinguishing the variety, including representative colour photos of the variety and other information on the plant material to be examined during the technical examination;
(i) where appropriate, characteristics that have been genetically modified, where the variety concerned represents a genetically modified organism within the meaning of Article 2(2) of Directive 2001/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) ;
(j) the date of any sale or first disposal to others, of varietal constituents or harvested material of the variety, to exploit the variety within the territory of the European Union or in one or more third countries, or to assess whether a variety is new as referred to in Article 10 of the basic Regulation, or a declaration that such sale or first disposal has not yet occurred;
(k) the designation of the authority applied to and the file number of the applications referred to in Article 18(3) of this Regulation;
(l) existing national or regional plant variety rights that have been granted to the variety;
(m) whether an application for the variety concerned has been submitted for listing or registration or a decision has been taken pursuant to Article 5 of Council Directive 68/193/EEC (2) , Article 10 of Council Directive 2002/53/EC (3) , Article 10 of Council Directive 2002/55/EC (4) and Article 5 of Commission Implementing Directive 2014/97/EU (5) .]
3.The Office may call for any necessary information and documentation, and, if necessary, sufficient drawings or photographs for the conduct of the technical examination within such time limit as it shall specify.
4.Where the variety concerned represents a genetically modified organism within the meaning of Article 2(2) of Directive 2001/18/EC, the Office may require the applicant to transmit a copy of the written attestation of the responsible authorities stating that a technical examination of the variety under Articles 55 and 56 of the basic Regulation does not pose risks to the environment according to the norms of that Directive.
Textual Amendments
Article 20U.K.Claiming priority
If the applicant claims a right of priority for an application within the meaning of Article 52(2) of the basic Regulation, which is not the earliest of those to be indicated pursuant to the first indent of Article 18(3) of this Regulation, the Office shall state that a priority date can only be given to such earlier application. Where the Office has issued a receipt including the date of filing of an application which is not the earliest of those to be indicated, the priority date notified shall be considered void.
Article 21U.K.Entitlement to a Community plant variety right during proceedings
1.When the commencement of an action against the applicant in respect of a claim referred to in Article 98(4) of the basic Regulation has been entered in the Register of Applications for Community plant variety rights, the Office may stay the application proceedings. The Office may set a date on which it intends to continue the proceedings pending before it.
2.When a final decision in, or any other termination of, the action referred to in paragraph 1 has been entered in the Register of Applications for Community plant variety rights, the Office shall resume proceedings. It may resume them at an earlier date, but not prior to the date already set pursuant to paragraph 1.
3.Where entitlement to a Community plant variety right is validly transferred to another person for the purposes of the Office, that person may pursue the application of the first applicant as if it were his own, provided that he gives notice to this effect to the Office within one month of the entry of final judgment in the Register of Applications for Community plant variety rights. Fees due pursuant to Article 83 of the basic Regulation and already paid by the first applicant shall be deemed to have been paid by the subsequent applicant.
[F1Directive 2001/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 March 2001 on the deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms and repealing Council Directive 90/220/EEC ( OJ L 106, 17.4.2001, p. 1 ).]
[F1Council Directive 68/193/EEC of 9 April 1968 on the marketing of material for the vegetative propagation of the vine ( OJ L 93, 17.4.1968, p. 15 ).]
[F1Council Directive 2002/53/EC of 13 June 2002 on the common catalogue of varieties of agricultural plant species ( OJ L 193, 20.7.2002, p. 1 ).]
[F1Council Directive 2002/55/EC of 13 June 2002 on the marketing of vegetable seed ( OJ L 193, 20.7.2002, p. 33 ).]
[F1Commission Implementing Directive 2014/97/EU of 15 October 2014 implementing Council Directive 2008/90/EC as regards the registration of suppliers and of varieties and the common list of varieties ( OJ L 298, 16.10.2014, p. 16 ).]