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 June 9, 1982, of a written communication from the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, relating to the National Collection of Type Cultures, indicating that the said depositary institution is located on the territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and including a declaration of assurances to the effect that the said institution complies and will continue to comply with the requirements concerning the acquisition of the status of international depositary authority as specified in Article 6(2) of 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.
The National Collection of Type Cultures will acquire the status of international depositary authority under the said Treaty as from August 31, 1982, the date of publication of the said communication in the July/August 1982 issue of Industrial Property/La Propriété industrielle (see Article 7(2)(b) of the said Treaty).
June 29, 1982
Text of the Written Communication of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dated June 4, 1982, Relating to the National Collection of Yeast Cultures
COMMUNICATION
1. I have the honour to refer to the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, opened for signature at Budapest from the 28th of April to the 31st of December 1977. In accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the said Treaty, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland nominate the National Collection of Type Cultures as an International Depositary Authority. The Government of the United Kingdom furnish their assurances that the National Collection of Type Cultures complies and will continue to comply with the requirements specified in Article 6(2) of the Treaty for an International Depositary Authority. The requisite information concerning this nominated Depositary Institution is set out below.
2. Accordingly I have the further honour to request that you carry out the procedures established by the Treaty and Regulations annexed to it, in connection with the acquisition of the status of International Depositary Authority by the Institution nominated herein.
3. The National Collection of Type Cultures (NCTC) is located in the United Kingdom at the Central Public Health Laboratory, 175 Colindale Avenue, London, NW9 5HT, England.
4. The NCTC is the responsibility of the Public Health Laboratory Service Board (PHLSB), a corporate body established in the United Kingdom by Act of Parliament in 1961. (Public Health Laboratory Service Act, 1960, now incorporated into the National-Health Service Act, 1977). Prior to 1961 the PHLSB was administered by The Medical Research Council.
5. The NCTC has been in continuous existence since 1920. Previously housed at the Laboratories of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, it was relocated to the Laboratories of the Public Health Laboratory Service at Colindale in July 1949. The NCTC has a staff of twenty-three, seven of whom hold University degrees and four hold technical qualifications. Additional administrative and technical support staff are available. This staff is fully competent and adequate to perform the scientific and administrative tasks required under the Budapest Treaty. The NCTC is affiliated to the World Federation for Culture Collections and has a recognised reputation for work concerned with the preservation, testing, authentication and distribution of bacteria pathogenic to man and/or animals. At present the collection contains about 3600 strains of such micro-organisms. The NCTC performs its work in an impartial and objective way and will be available for the purposes of Deposit under the Treaty to any Depositor under the same conditions.
6. The NCTC has all the facilities necessary for the culturing, checking and long term preservation of bacteria. Cultures are maintained routinely by freeze-drying. Storage in liquid nitrogen is expected as an additional facility in the near future. Patent cultures are stored in a locked room and are subject to regular audit. Only authorised staff have access to them. To minimise the risk of loss, duplicate cultures and records are stored in a building separate from that housing the main collection.
7. The NCTC is equipped and run in full accordance with the United Kingdom Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act, 1974, and in accordance with advice contained in the "Code of Practice for the Prevention of Infection in Clinical Laboratories and Post-mortem Rooms" (HMSO 1978), so far as is reasonable and practicable.
8. The NCTC will accept for deposit bacteria that can be preserved without significant change to their properties by freeze-drying and which are pathogenic to man and/or animals.
9. In accordance with the Regulations for implementing the Budapest Treaty, the NCTC will:
a. examine the viability of such kinds of organisms and store them;
b. issue receipt and viability statements as prescribed;
c. comply with the prescribed secrecy requirements; and
d. furnish samples under the conditions and in conformity with the prescribed procedures.
10. On behalf of the nominated Depositary Institution, I have the honour to inform you that in accordance with Rule 6.3.(a) the NCTC requires before it will accept a microorganism for deposit:
(i) that a deposit of a micro-organism should be in an appropriate form and adequate quantity to enable NCTC to carry out properly its duties under the Regulations;
(ii) that the Accession Forms established by the NCTC for the purpose of administrative procedures be completed;
(iii) that the written statement referred to in Rule 6.1(a) or 6.2(a) be drafted in English;
(iv) that the fee for storage referred to in Rule 12.1.(a)(i) be paid; and
(v) that the depositor complete the Application form of the NCTC in entering into a contract with the NCTC establishing the terms and conditions on which deposit will be accepted.
11. The following fees are payable to the Public Health Laboratory Service Board:
11.1 for storage of the micro-organisms in accordance with the Treaty - £250.00
11.2 for the issue of a Viability Statement in those cases in which, in accordance with Rule 10.2., a fee may be charged - £25.00
11.3 for furnishing of a sample in accordance with Rule 11.2 or 11.3 - £40.00.
All charges paid within the United Kingdom are subject to Value Added Tax at the current rate.
12. The NCTC conducts all its business in English.