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 July 26, 1982, of a written communication from the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, relating to the Culture Centre of Algae and Protozoa, 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 Culture Centre of Algae and Protozoa will acquire the status of international depositary authority under the said Treaty as from September 30, 1982, the date of publication of the said communication in the September 1982 issue of Industrial Property/La Propriété industrielle (see Article 7(2)(b) of the said Treaty).
August 11, 1982
Text of the Written Communication of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland dated July 20, 1982, Relating to the Culture Centre of Algae and Protozoa
COMMUNICATION
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 Culture Centre of Algae and Protozoa as an International Depositary Authority. The Government of the United Kingdom furnish their assurances that the Culture Centre of Algae and Protozoa 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.
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.
The Culture Centre of Algae and Protozoa is located in the United Kingdom at 36 Storey's Way, Cambridge, CBE ODT, England.
The Centre is a part of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology, whose legal and parent body is the Natural Environment Research Council, a body established in the United Kingdom by Royal Charter.
The Centre has been in continuous existence since 1970 as a constituent body of the Natural Environment Research Council; before that, it formed a part of the University of Cambridge School Botany and in 1975 it was incorporated in the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology. The Centre has a staff of about 20, of whom approximately half hold relevant university degrees. This staff is fully competent and adequate to perform the scientific and administrative tasks required under the Budapest Treaty.
The Centre is affiliated to the World Federation for Culture Collections, and has an undisputed reputation for work concerned with the preservation, testing, authentication and distribution of non-pathogenic algae (other than large seaweeds), free living protozoa, and certain parasitic protozoa. At present the collection contains over 2,000 strains of such microorganisms and approximately 100 new strains are added each year. The Centre 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.
The facilities of the Centre include temperature controlled culture rooms, light and electron microscopy, liquid nitrogen storage and full provision for the aseptic handling of cultures. Standby electrical generating equipment is provided to maintain temperature and illumination of the culture rooms in case of failure of the public supply. There is adequate provision for pressurised steam and dry heat sterilisation of media and equipment. The highest scientific and administrative standards are applied to the cultures deposited in the collection, and full safety measures are in operation to minimise the risk of loss of any deposited cultures. Records of all deposited material will be kept on standard forms and also as computer processed data. Duplicate computer records will be deposited at the Headquarters of the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology to minimise the risk of accidental loss or destruction. Cultures which can be cryopreserved are so stored in at least duplicate lots, with periodic viability checks when deemed necessary. No culture is stored in this way until it is known that it can be viably retrieved. Material deposited under the Budapest Treaty, which cannot be successfully cryopreserved, will be maintained by serial passage as at least duplicate cultures in appropriate media, and would be subject to all the Centre's usual care to avoid contamination or loss. Such cultures would be distinctively labelled so that, in any emergency, priority could be given to their preservation. A resident caretaker is responsible for the general security of the premises.
The Centre is equipped and run in full accordance with the United Kingdom Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974. Particular care is taken with any cultures which are facultatively pathogenic, although I stress that nearly all the cultures maintained at the centre are non-pathogenic to man, and non-toxic, and only such cultures will be accepted for deposit under the Treaty.
The Centre intends to accept for deposit under the Budapest Treaty, only certain types of microorganisms, namely:
a. algae, other than large seaweeds;
b. free living protozoa; and
c. parasitic protozoa not pathogenic to man or domestic animals, which can be maintained by in vitro culture.
In accordance with the Regulations for implementing the Budapest Treaty, the Centre 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.
The following fees, plus value added tax where applicable, will be payable to the Centre:
| For storage of each microorganism in accordance with the Treaty | £275 | |
| For issue of a Viability Statement in those cases in which, in accordance with Rule 10.2, a fee may be charged | £50 | |
| For furnishing of a sample in accordance with Rule 11.2 or 11.3 | £10 plus the actual cost of carriage | |
| For delivering an attestation in accordance with Rule 8.2 | £10 |
The Centre will conduct business in English as regards deposits and all associated matters under the Treaty.