PLANT VARIETIES REGISTRATION IN BELARUS
In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On Patents on Plant Varieties" the following rights may occur with respect to the plant varieties:
- personal non-property rights on plant variety;
- the intellectual property rights on plant variety;
- the permission to use the plant variety.
The Patent on the plant variety serves as the evidence of the above-indicated rights on the plant variety in said country. Also, please kindly note that the mentioned Patent is valid for 25 years counting from the date of the registration of the variety in the State Register of Plant Varieties.
For filing an application for a Patent on plant variety the following documents and information should be provided to the National Center of the Intellectual Property of the Republic of Belarus:
- application form for the plant variety containing general information as for the variety as well as the breeder(s), applicant(s), representative, etc.;
- technical questionnaire containing detailed information about the variety characteristics, method of propagation of the variety, indexes of distinctiveness of the variety from similar variety(ies), special conditions for growing the variety, main use of the variety, breeding scheme, information on plant material to be examined, etc.;
- certified copy of the priority application, if any;
- Power of Attorney, that should be signed and stamped by the applicant, certified by notary and legalised by Apostille;
- document of evidence of the applicant's right for application filing, if the applicant and the breeder are not the same;
- photographs of the plant and its organs indicating the main characteristics of variety.
The plant variety registration procedure includes the following steps.
After filing the application is subject to the preliminary examination that lasts about 3-6 months. In case of successful completion of the mentioned stage the National Center issues a notification about positive result of said examination to the applicant and the data in respect of the application is published in the Official Bulletin.
Thereafter, the application materials and experimental samples should be submitted to the State Inspection for Testing and Protection of Plant Varieties for carrying out the substantive examination. The substantive examination includes the following steps:
1) carrying out the examination of novelty of the variety (a variety shall be considered novel if it is not sold or transferred otherwise to the third persons for commercial use prior to the filing date of the application, namely on the territory of Belarus - one year prior to this date; on the territory of other countries in relation to tree crops, shrubs and vines - for six years and regarding other types of crops- for four years prior to this date;
2) carrying out examination of compliance of the variety with the criteria of distinctness, uniformity and stability.
The substantive examination of the plant variety lasts about 1-3 years.
Also, for carrying out the above-mentioned examinations (preliminary and substantive), the corresponding fees should be paid to the National Center of the Intellectual Property.
In case of the positive results of the substantive examination and after payment of the Registration fee the National Center of the Intellectual Property issues the Patent on plant variety and said variety is included into the State Register.
Our company would be pleased to provide you with such services on plant varieties registration in Belarus. Please feel free to contact us for further information regarding this matter.