- REGULATIONS ON PROTECTION OF PLANT VARIETIES
- CHAPTER I GENERAL
- CHAPTER II BREEDER’S RIGHT CONDITIONS FOR THE GRANT OF THE BREEDER’S RIGHT
- CHAPTER III OWNERS OF THE RIGHT TO PROTECTION AND RIGHTS OF THE OWNER
- CHAPTER IV OWNER’S RIGHTS SCOPE OF THE BREEDER’S RIGHT
- CHAPTER V EXCEPTIONS TO THE BREEDER’S RIGHT
- CHAPTER VI EXTENSION OF THE BREEDER’S RIGHT
- CHAPTER VII INDEPENDENCE AND RELATIONSHIP OF THE BREEDER’S RIGHT WITH CERTIFICATION AND INSPECTION
- CHAPTER VIII DURATION OF THE BREEDER’S RIGHT; PROVISIONAL PROTECTION
- CHAPTER IX SUCCESSION AND TRANSFERS
- CHAPTER X EXPIRY OF THE BREEDER’S RIGHT
- CHAPTER XI ORGANIZATION AND PROCEDURES GENERAL REGULATIONS
- CHAPTER XII OBLIGATIONS OF THE APPLICANT AND BREEDER
- CHAPTER XIII RIGHT OF PRIORITY
- CHAPTER XIV PUBLICATIONS AND GAZETTE
- CHAPTER XV ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE IN THE PROTECTION OF BREEDERS’ RIGHTS
- CHAPTER XVI TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS
BOLIVIA REGULATIONS ON PROTECTION OF PLANT VARIETIES Article 1. Object
I. Pursuant to: These regulations are established and govern the above Decision of the Andean Community of Nations.
II. The aim of this Resolution is to: Article 2. Additional objective.
To incorporate into domestic legislation the provisions contained in the international agreements to which the country has acceded and has ratified in that regard.
Article 3. Sphere of application.
This Resolution shall apply to all plant genuses and species, apart from those specified by express resolution of the Competent National Authority or those whose cultivation, possession or use are prohibited for reasons of human, animal or plant health.
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Article 4. Beneficiaries of rights
Beneficiaries of the rights granted to the breeder shall be:
I. Domestic individual and collective persons.
II. Foreign individual and collective persons which have indicated that they are domiciled or have legal representation in the national territory, provided that rights similar to those established in our country be granted in their own country.
Article 5. Competent National Authority.
The National Seeds Program shall be designated as the Competent National Authority, and shall administer and apply, in operative terms, the protection of plant varieties, through its corresponding bodies.
Article 6 – [Request] The application for the protection of a variety shall be filed, using the appropriate special form, by the breeder of the variety or his legal representative domiciled in the country, with the relevant documentation and the individual confirmation of payment for services being attached.
Article 7 – [Plant Material] When filing his application, the applicant shall file a sample of the plant material (seeds, tubers, rhizomes, runners and so on) to be protected. The quantity thereof shall be indicated by the Competent National Authority. The applicant shall be obliged to submit samples of plant material, as many times as required.
Article 8 – [Documentation] As a general rule, the application for protection shall include at least the information contained in the special form for this purpose. In cases where part of the documentation is issued abroad, the documentation shall be legalized by the corresponding authority of the country of origin. The documents for the varieties of national origin shall be similarly authenticated.
Article 9 – [Sworn statement] The applicant shall file a sworn statement indicating the features of the variety and specifying that it is novel, different, uniform and stable.
Article 10. Definitions.
For the purposes of this Resolution, the following terms mean:
I. Protection: The right of exclusivity granted to the breeder over a variety, subject to the regulations established in this Resolution.
II. New Plant Variety: A variety which can be the subject of the breeder’s right.
III. Variety: A group of plants which belong to a single botanical taxon, of the lowest known range, which may be: VI. Ownership Title: The document granted by the Competent National Authority, which recognizes the right of the breeder to a variety.
VII. Owner: This shall be the individual or collective person who owns the right to a variety;
VIII. Plant Material: The living sample of the variety supplied by the breeder applicant, which may be whole plants or parts thereof, and which will be used to carry out the tests of novelty, distinctness, uniformity and stability.
IX. Essentially Derived Variety: A variety shall be deemed to be essentially derived from another variety, hereinafter an initial variety, when it is predominantly derived from the initial variety that is itself predominantly derived from the initial variety, while retaining the expressions of the essential characteristics resulting from the genotype or the combination of genotypes of the initial variety; it is clearly distinguishable from the initial variety and, except from the differences which result from the act of derivation, it conforms with the initial variety in the expression of the essential characteristics resulting from the genotype or the combination of its genotypes.
BREEDER’S RIGHT The breeder’s right shall be granted where the variety is:
I. novel,
II. distinct,
III. uniform, Article 12. Novelty.
A variety is considered novel if the reproduction or propagation material, or a product of its harvest, has not been sold or otherwise lawfully disposed of to third parties by the breeder or his rightful successors, or with his consent, for purposes of commercial exploitation of the variety.
Article 13. Loss of Novelty
Novelty is lost, where:
I. The exploitation referred to in the previous article has begun at least one (1) year prior to the filing date of the application for the grant of an Ownership Title or of the claimed priority; if the sale or dispose has been made within the national territory or,
II. The exploitation established in the previous article has begun at least four (4) years or, in the case of trees and vines, at least six (6) years prior to the filing date of the application for the grant of an Ownership Title or of the claimed priority, if the sale or disposal has been made in a territory other than the national territory.
Article 14. Novelty is not lost.
The condition of novelty is not lost through sale or disposal to third parties, where such acts:
I. are the result of an infringement to the detriment of the breeder or his successor in title;
II. are part of an agreement to transfer the right to the variety, provided that this has not been transferred physically to a third party;
III. are part of an agreement in accordance with which a third party increased, on behalf of the owner, the existing reproduction or propagation material; VI. are produced in any unlawful form.
Article 15. Distinction.
I. A variety shall be considered distinct, if it is clearly distinguishable from any other variety whose existence was commonly known at the time of the filing of the application or of the claimed priority.
II. The filing in any country of an application for the grant of the Ownership Title, or for the entry of the variety in an official register of varieties, will have made commonly known said variety from that date, if such an act were to lead to the grant of rights or the registration of the variety, as the case may be.
Article 16. Uniformity.
A variety is considered to be uniform if its relevant characteristics are sufficiently uniform, taking into account the variations that may be expected from its form of reproduction, multiplication or propagation.
Article 17. Stability.
A variety is considered to be stable if its relevant characteristics remain unchanged from generation to generation and, in the case of a particular cycle of reproductions or multiplications, at the end of each cycle.
Article 18. Denomination.
The variety will be known by a denomination intended to serve as a generic designation.
Article 19. Identity.
The denomination shall be different from any designation of an existing variety of the same species of plant or similar species, and shall allow it to be identified without confusion.
Article 20. Composition of the denomination
A variety may be denominated as an imaginary name or by means of a code.
Article 21. Impediments
I. Use excluded by the previous right of a third party;
II. Difficulties regarding recognition or reproduction;
III. Denominations which are identical or may be confused with a denomination of another variety. Article 22. Reasons for the refusal of a denomination
A denomination shall serve as a reason for refusal, where it is considered that it causes difficulties for users, as regards recognition or reproduction, taking into account the following:
I. A denomination which has an “imaginary name:”consists of a single letter; II. A denomination, which is in the form of a “code:” III. Similarly, it will be considered that a variety denomination leads to error or causes confusion, if it: IV. Consists of or contains: When the proposal relating to the variety denomination is submitted, the applicant shall state whether the proposed denomination adopts the form of an “imaginary name” or a “code.”
If the applicant does not make a statement as to the form of the proposed denomination, this shall be regarded as an imaginary name.
The plant denominations which have been accepted in the form of a code shall be clearly identified as such in the official register of varieties with the explanation “variety denomination accepted in the form of a code.”
Article 23. Free use of a denomination
No right relating to the designation registered as a denomination of the variety shall hinder the free use thereof in relation to the variety, including after the breeder’s right has expired.
Article 24. Denomination proposed by the breeder
The denomination of the variety shall be proposed by the breeder to the Competent National Authority.
If it is verified that said denomination does not meet the requirements detailed above, the Authority shall decline registration and shall request the breeder to propose another denomination within a fixed period, contrary to which registration shall be permanently declined.
Article 25. Time of registration of the denomination.
The denomination shall be registered by the Competent National Authority, at the time the breeder’s right is granted.
Article 26. Preservation of the denomination of origin.
A variety may only be the subject of applications for the grant of a breeder’s right under the same denomination, registered in the territory where it originated. It shall be registered prior to verification.
Article 27. Prohibition of the use of an accepted denomination
Once the variety denomination has been accepted, it shall be forbidden to use an identical or similar designation. This prohibition shall remain in force after the variety has ceased to be used, since the denomination has acquired a particular meaning in relation to the variety.
Article 28. Obligation to use the denomination.
CHAPTER I
GENERAL
CHAPTER II
CONDITIONS FOR THE GRANT OF THE BREEDER’S RIGHT
Article 11. Conditions.