Subject Matter of Protection

Article 2 

Traditional knowledge, the ideas, practices, uses and inventions which may or may not be linked to biological diversity, created by local indigenous communities in a traditional and informal manner, in response to the challenges posed by their material and cultural environment, and which serve as identifiers for these communities.

Article 247

For the purposes of this Law, traditional knowledge shall be defined as the following elements:
- inventions or other technical ideas, uses, designs, equipment, tools and instruments that can be used in the production of products and services, including the processes, equipment and products used to obtain them, as well as plants domesticated or grown or animal species and microorganisms;
- knowledge of the properties of biological resources as well as combinations of such resources;
- methods, processes and products relating to the fields of medicine, agriculture, food and textiles as well as the other products and services with a practical or spiritual function.

Beneficiaries or Rightholders

Article 2 

Local communities, groups of citizens who are resident in Burundi and who collectively have a specific identity as well as social, cultural and linguistic and economic characteristics which are peculiar to them and which differentiate them from the rest of society in Burundi.

Scope of Protection

Article 261

Local communities’ collective rights in the traditional knowledge registered shall be of an economic and moral nature.

Article 262

With regard to the traditional knowledge protected under this Law, local communities shall enjoy the following exclusive rights:
- the right to prevent third parties from manufacturing, using, storing, offering for sale or selling this product, or from importing or exporting this product for these purposes without the holder’s consent if the subject matter of the protection is a product;
- the right to prevent third parties from using the process to store, offer for sale or sell products obtained directly or indirectly via this process, or from importing or exporting such products for these purposes without the holder’s consent, if the subject matter of the protection is a process;
- the right to prevent third parties who do not have the holder’s consent from reproducing the species or microorganism, and to prevent third parties from preparing the species or microorganism for purposes of its reproduction or propagation, offering it for sale, sale or any other form of commercialization, import and export, as well as possessing the species or microorganism for one or other of these purposes if the subject matter of the protection is a grown plant species, a domesticated animal species or a microorganism;
- the right to prevent third parties from manufacturing or reproducing, withoutthe holder’s consent, objects which are of a similar configuration in terms of forms, colors, materials and techniques and which display by and large the style and visual impression of the crafts of which they are characteristic if the subject matter of protection is a design or an object of a functional or esthetic nature, including a crafts element;
- the right to prohibit for third parties who do not have the holder’s consent any type of use, in the language of origin or in any other language, consisting in affixing identical or similar signs to products, or to products related to services, or manufacturing labels, packaging or other materials which reproduce or contain these signs, for commercial purposes or for any other purpose, if the subject matter of protection is a name, symbol, emblem or other distinctive sign of a religious, spiritual, cultural or economic nature.

Article 263

The exclusive rights set out in Article 262 shall cover any commercial act and any other act likely to distort the spiritual and cultural identity of the community to which the registered traditional knowledge belongs.

Article 264

If a local community opts to keep secret part or all of the inventories of registered traditional knowledge, in accordance with Article 254, it shall be entitled to prevent third parties from disclosing or acquiring without its consent undisclosed traditional knowledge, in a manner contrary to honest business practices, provided that the local community to which the undisclosed registered traditional knowledge belongs has taken reasonable steps to keep it secret.

Article 265

The rights conferred on local communities under this Law shall be industrial property rights which are peculiar to these communities. These rights may not be assigned, confiscated or transferred in any way.

Exceptions and Limitations

Article 269

The following shall be excluded from the protection conferred by this Law:
- traditional practices of commercial or industrial exploitation of traditional knowledge which forms part of the traditions and culture of the local communities;
- Non-traditional practices of commercial or industrial exploitation of traditional knowledge prior to the date of the application for registration;
- Commercial acts that have already been performed.

Article 270

If the general interest of a significant share of the population of Burundi so warrants, the Minister responsible for trade, after hearing the local community to which the registered traditional knowledge concerned belongs, may authorize the scientific, commercial or industrial exploitation of one or more of the elements of this knowledge by a third party, provided that such exploitation does not distort the cultural identity of the local community in question or offend it and that the local community receives a fair share of any type of benefits arising from such scientific, commercial or industrial exploitation, in view of the circumstances at hand.
The scope and term of such authorization shall be limited for the specific purposes of public interest which warrant the authorization. Exploitation by the third party must cease once it is no longer justified by the public interest.

Content of Disclosure

Article 21

The description must contain a clear indication of the origin of the genetic or biological resources collected in the territory of Burundi and used directly or indirectly in the making of the claimed invention as well as any element of the traditional knowledge which may or may not be linked to these resources that is protected under Title V of this part and that has been used directly or indirectly in the making of the claimed invention without the prior informed consent of its individual or joint creators.