The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to notify him of the receipt, on December 6, 2005, of a communication of the European Patent Office, dated December 1, 2005, relating to the extension of the list of kinds of microorganisms accepted by the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSMZ), an international depositary authority under the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, done at Budapest on April 28, 1977, and amended on September 26, 1980 (See Budapest Notification No. 22 of August 27, 1981).
December 23, 2005
Text of the Communication by the European Patent Office Relating to the Extension of the List of Kinds of Microorganisms accepted by the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSMZ)
[Original: English/French]
COMMUNICATION
According to Rule 3.3 Budapest Treaty, I am pleased to inform you that the assurances made by the European Patent Organisation in its communications dated 23 July 1981, 8 March 1988, 4 July 1990 and 6 December 1993, namely that the DSMZ complies with and will continue to comply with the requirements specified in Article 6.2 Budapest Treaty, are extended to archaea and, as far as plant cell cultures are concerned, to undifferentiated plant cell cultures, embryogenic plant cell cultures and tissues as well as in vitro shoot cultures.
ANNEX
Kinds of Microorganisms Accepted by the DSMZ
Bacteria and archaea (including those containing plasmids), fungi (including yeasts), bacteriophages, plasmid DNAs, plant viruses, plant cell cultures (undifferentiated plant cell cultures, embryogenic plant cell cultures and tissues, in-vitro shoot cultures), human and animal cell cultures, murine embryos.
The DSMZ accepts for deposit only those microorganisms which, pursuant to Directive 2000/54/EC on the Protection of Workers from Risks Related to Exposure to Biological Agents at Work (OJ No. L262, pp. 21-45 of 18.09.2000) or the respective German Law (Biostoffverordnung, (BGBI. I pp. 50-60 as of 27.01.1999)) belong to risk group 1 or 2.
Genetically manipulated organisms or isolated DNA must be processable in accordance with Class 1 or 2 of Directive 98/81/EC on the contained use of genetically modified microorganisms (OJ No. L330, pp. 13-31 of 05.12.1998) or safety level S1 or S2 of the German Law Regulating Genetic Engineering (BGBI. I, pp. 2067-2083 of 21.12.1993, last changed on 21.12.2004 (BGBI. I, pp. 186-196)).
The biological material indicated above cannot be accepted if it is contaminated by foreign organisms.
Plant viruses which cannot be multiplied through mechanical infection of plants cannot be accepted for deposit.
Before preservation of murine embryos by the depositor and subsequent dispatch to the DSMZ, information concerning the method to be used must be obtained from the DSMZ.
The DSMZ reserves the right to refuse to accept for deposit material which in its view represents an unacceptable hazard or which it is not in a position to process.
In all instances, it must be possible to preserve the deposited material by lyophilization or storage in liquid nitrogen or by some other method of long-term preservation without significant change.