Budapest Notification No. 310
Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure

Communication from the Government of the People's Republic of China Relating to the Extension of Kinds of Microorganisms accepted for deposit and Changes in the Schedule of Fees charged by the China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC)

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 the receipt of a written communication from the Government of the People's Republic of China Relating to the Extension of Kinds of Microorganisms accepted for deposit and Changes in the Schedule of Fees charged by the China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), 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. 139 of May 12, 1995).

January 28, 2016

Text of the communication by the Government of the People's Republic of China relating to the Extension of Kinds of Microorganisms accepted for deposit and Changes in the Schedule of Fees charged by the China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC)

[Original: English]

COMMUNICATION

This letter aims to notify the updated information of the China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center (CGMCC), an International Depositary Authority (IDA) recognized by the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure.

CGMCC has recently extended its list of microorganism accepted and changed the amounts of fees. According to the Budapest Treaty, the State Intellectual Property Office of China (SIPO) has the honor to officially communicate the said changes to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), details of which could be found in the attachment, including CGMCC's new list of kinds of microorganism accepted and its new fee schedule. It would be highly appreciated if WIPO could notify the updated information to all Contracting States and intergovernmental industrial property organizations and publish it on its website.

ANNEX

The new text concerning the kinds of microorganisms accepted for deposit and the new schedule of fees are as follows:

KINDS OF MICROORGANISMS THAT MAY BE DEPOSITED

With the exception of pathogenic microorganisms of Risk Group I (Chinese classification): Archaea, bacteria (including actinomycetes), yeasts, filamentous fungi, anaerobic microorganisms, single cell algae, animal cell lines, plant cell lines, plant seeds, mycoplasma, viruses, bacteriophages, plasmids. The CGMCC will accept deposits consisting of or containing recombinant DNA molecules, the highest acceptable physical containment level is P2.

At present, the CGMCC does not accept temporarily the following biological material for deposit: protozoa.

As a general rule, the CGMCC will accept only strains that can be placed in a culture under conditions technically feasible for the collection concerned and conserved, other than in continuous vegetative activity, without inducing significant changes in the characteristics.

Exceptionally, the CGMCC may accept deposits that cannot be conserved other than by active culture, but acceptance of such a deposit will have to be decided, and the relevant fee determined, on a case-by-case basis, after prior negotiation with the potential depositor.

The CGMCC reserves the right to refuse a deposit of biological material under Article 5 of the Budapest Treaty:

- which is restricted from import according to Chinese law;
- whose conservation involves hazards deemed to be excessive.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the CGMCC reserves the right to reject or accept for deposit any material which, in the opinion of the Director, represents a risk that is either unacceptable or is too difficult to handle.

The CGMCC also reserves the right to refuse an application which asks the CGMCC to supply biological material that is restricted from export according to Chinese law.

SCHEDULE OF FEES

Other currencies will be converted into RMB according to the exchange rate of the Bank of China.