Budapest Notification No. 283
Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure

Communication of the Republic of Chile Relating to the Acquisition of the Status of International Depositary Authority by the Colección Chilena de Recursos Genéticos Microbianos (CChRGM)

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 from the Government of the Republic of Chile, on January 25, 2012, of a written communication dated January 17, 2012, relating to the acquisition of the status of International Depository Authority by the Colección Chilena de Recursos Genéticos Microbianos (CChRGM), which states that this Depositary Institution is located on the territory of Chile and includes a Declaration of Assurances to the effect that the Institution complies and will continue to comply with the requirements concerning the acquisition of the status of International Depositary Authority 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, and amended on September 26, 1980.

Pursuant to Article 7(2)(b), the Colección Chilena de Recursos Genéticos Microbianos (CChRGM) shall acquire the status of International Depositary Authority under the Budapest Treaty on March 26, 2012, that is, on the day of publication of this notification.

March 26, 2012

Text of the communication by the Republic of Chile relating to the Acquisition of the Status of International Depositary Authority by the Colección Chilena de Recursos Genéticos Microbianos (CChRGM)

[Original: Spanish]

COMMUNICATION

I have the pleasure, as a result of a great deal of work done by the Agricultural Research Institute (INIA) and the National Industrial Property Institute (INAPI), to request, via this letter and pursuant to the requirements of the Budapest Treaty, accreditation for a Chilean entity as an International Depositary Authority for Microorganisms.

The institution seeking this certification is the Colección Chilena de Recursos Genéticos Microbianos (CChRGM) belonging to INIA, a private law, non-profitmaking corporation, attached to the Ministry of Agriculture.

INAPI guarantees that CChRGM complies, and will continue to comply, with the requirements specified in Article 6.2 of the Budapest Treaty.

Its mission consists in contributing to increased production in national agriculture and fisheries, through the creation, adaptation and transfer of technology; the promotion and support of the development of industrial conversion processes and the incorporation of added value in agricultural products through the conduct of research, studies or service provision; and endeavoring in general to enhance the quality of life of the national population through the development of actions geared toward better use of the natural and production resources of the agricultural sector.

Through the Public Biological Resources Center Program (CRBP) and its operating unit, CChRGM, INIA manages the conservation and use of microbial genetic resources. Currently, CChRGM hosts more than 2,150 deposits of microorganisms corresponding to separate collections. This number increases permanently as new deposits are received.

It is a matter of fundamental significance for Chile to be a country, within the region, with high standards of protection and promotion of intellectual property, and we believe that an important step would be to have the first international depositary authority in South America.

This would be a great achievement for us and we are keenly awaiting the start of such work.

ANNEX

Colección Chilena de Recursos Genéticos Microbianos (CChRGM) (The Chilean Collection of Microbial Genetic Resources)

Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias (INIA) (Agricultural Research Institute)

1. Legal Status

The Colección Chilena de Recursos Genéticos Microbianos (The Chilean Collection of Microbial Genetic Resources, hereinafter "CChRGM") is the operating unit of the Agricultural Research Institute (INIA), the main agricultural research institution in Chile, which is a private law non-profitmaking corporation, attached to the Ministry of Agriculture.

INIA was created in 1964 by the Agricultural Development Institute, the Production Promotion Corporation, the University of Chile, the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and the University of Concepción.

It has national geographical coverage comprising 11 Regional Research Centers (CRI), located in the regions of Coquimbo, Valparaíso, Metropolitana, el Libertador Bernardo O'Higgins, el Maule, Bío Bío, La Araucanía, Los Lagos, General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo y Magallanes. Experimental centers and technical offices are attached to the CRIs.

Through the Public Biological Resources Center Program (CRBP) and its operating unit, CChRGM, financed by the Sub-Secretariat for Agriculture (Ministry of Agriculture, MINAGRI), INIA manages the conservation and use of microbial genetic resources in Chile. Currently, CChRGM hosts more than 2,150 deposits of microorganisms corresponding to separate collections. This number increases permanently as new deposits are received.  In November 2011, the existing collections were grouped as shown in the following table:

CChRGM makes available a platform for management of microbial resources, which provides support for three basic functions such as the acquisition, maintenance and distribution of microbiological genetic resources.

Within this framework, CChRGM can provide information and specialized advice on discovering, maintaining, identifying and cultivating a number of microorganisms. In the same way, INIA could carry out trials for characterization and specific evaluations under standardized protocols, at the request of a client.

2. Name and Address

Colección Chilena de Recursos Genéticos Microbianos (CChRGM)
Avenida Vicente Méndez 515,
Chillán, Region VIII

Telephone: (56-42) 209500
Fax: (56-42) 209599

3. Facilities and Equipment

CChRGM is the unit responsible for managing the conservation and use of microbial genetic resources, and is located in the facilities of the Quilampu Regional Research Center, Chillán, Region VIII.

In order to carry out its functions of acquiring, maintaining and distributing microbiological materials, CChRGM staff use the services, equipment and facilities made available for this purpose.

Cultures are maintained routinely by sub-culture and prolonged storage in liquid nitrogen or lyophilization. Only authorized staff have access to the strains kept at CChRGM. The area occupied by CChRGM covers approximately 140m².

The CChRGM infrastructure covers the following areas:

Area of preparation, process and identification of biological material.

Defined as a transit area, includes a laboratory sector suitable for work with and receipt of samples from the land, isolation and preparation of microorganisms for the preservation process. Also includes areas of microscopy for taxonomy work and identification of microorganisms.

Area of lyophilization and storage of biological material.

Defined as an area which includes the equipment used in conservation through lyophylization of isolated elements. It also includes the sector for storage of lyophilized samples, with controlled conditions and restricted access.

Cryopreservation area.

Defined as the area which includes the equipment used in cryogenic conservation of isolated elements. It also includes the sector for storage of cryopreserved samples, in mobile electrical units, with controlled conditions and restricted access.

Sub-culture and nematode-maintenance area.

Defined as an area intended for conservation of cultures in a liquid medium and storage at low temperatures (10°C) and subject to defined standards.

Infrastructure and installed capacity

Scientific instruments and equipment

4. Staff

In order to facilitate the management of CChRGM, the Collection has a manager responsible for the conservation unit who, in turn, acts as curator for the material and technical support staff for routine collection conservation and maintenance activities.

These staff members are skilled and suited to carrying out the scientific and administrative tasks required under the Budapest Treaty. From the contractual point of view, measures are taken to safeguard intellectual property and industrial secrecy.

5. Type of Organisms Accepted for Deposit

CChRGM may receive for long-term deposit microorganisms for agricultural and forestry, environmental and industrial-process use and impact. More specifically, CChRGM will accept for deposit nematodes, fungi (molds, filamentous fungi, yeasts, higher fungi), bacteria (including actinomycetes), microorganisms which contain plasmids; those which can be preserved, without any alteration to their properties, by means of sub-culture and storage in cryopreservation and lyophylization. Also accepted are collections of nematodes, more specifically entomopathogenic nematodes to be conserved in vivo in a liquid medium.

CChRGM will accept pathogenic microorganisms from plants, antagonists of phytopathogens, nematophogae, entomopathogens, mychorrizas, endophytes of plants, bioremediators and microorganisms from industrial processes.

Those animal and human pathogenic microorganisms and/or of unknown nature are excluded from being deposited as such. In the same way, mixtures of cultures, contaminated cultures, those without an adequate scientific description or cultures whose identity cannot be verified are excluded.

For the time being, algae, protozoa, human cell lines, animal viruses and hydrydomes cannot be received.

As a general rule, within CChRGM only strains that may be cultivated and preserved under technically feasible conditions, within the sphere of the collections conserved, without inducing significant changes in their characteristics, can be accepted.

Preparations of nucleic acids and phages are not for the time being accepted, pending development of techniques and procedures inside the laboratory.

Through its curator, CChRGM reserves the right to accept or reject microorganisms which, by their nature, require special treatment or present a risk in their handling and preparation for storage. Exceptionally, microorganisms may be accepted for deposit, which require special treatment, although the costs and conditions of the deposit shall be established and negotiated case by case, as appropriate.

6. Technical Requirements and Procedures

Form and quantity

Organisms must be submitted for deposit as liquid cultures or in agar. The minimum number of replicas that must be supplied for deposit is, in the case of fungi, of a pure culture in a known culture medium, free of contamination and other organisms (contaminated cultures will be rejected without being processed). Nematode cultures shall contain a minimum of 10³ juvenile units (dauers), depending on the species for which storage is sought.

Time required for viability testing

The average time required to carry out the viability analysis by CChRGM is 15 days, but depositors must take into account the fact that in some cases analysis may take more than 30 days.

Depositor check and renewal of strains

CChRGM will prepare its own sub-cultures of organisms at the time of deposit. Cultures will be renewed in accordance with requests or the opinion of the laboratory already established for the different groups of microorganisms. Where the original material has been cryopreserved, the samples will be renewed through a subculture thereof or by requesting a new deposit from the depositor. Analysis of authenticity of the samples will be required from the first group of samples for deposit (not from the subsequent ones).

7. Administrative Requirements and Procedures

Language

The official languages of CChRGM are Spanish and English.

Contract

CChRGM will request the depositor to complete the application form, which serves as a contract whereby the depositor undertakes to:

- supply all the information requested by CChRGM;
- pay all the required fees;
- compensate CChRGM for any claim that may arise as a result of the dispatch of samples with information that has been altered, is misleading, amended or belongs to third parties;
- decline to withdraw his deposit during the period requested for its due storage;
- authorize CChRGM to supply the samples in accordance with Rule 11 of the Regulations under the Budapest Treaty.

Where an organism has been accepted for deposit, CChRGM shall notify the depositor and shall remind him that he is subject to the terms and conditions of the contract.

Regulations for import and/or quarantine

The type of organisms accepted by CChRGM is subject to import and/or quarantine regulations as well as internationally recognized protocols on biosafety.

Making the original deposit

Depositors must complete the application and deposit forms used by CChRGM for deposits according to the Budapest Treaty, equivalent to BP/1.

Official Notifications to the Depositor

The receipt and declaration of viability shall be issued on the compulsory international forms BP/4 and BP/9 respectively. The certificate for receipt of a subsequent indication or amendment of the scientific description and/or proposal of taxonomic designation shall be issued on form BP/8, the notification of supply of samples to third parties on form BP/14. For other official notifications, standard forms shall not be used.

Non-Official Notifications to the Depositor

If requested, CChRGM shall communicate by telephone, facsimile or email the date of deposit and the entry number after the organism has been received, but before the official receipt is issued. However, the depositor shall be informed that this information is provisional and that it depends on the result of the viability tests. CChRGM will also communicate the result of the viability analysis before the relevant certificate is issued.

Supply of information to the Patent Agent

As a matter of course, CChRGM will ask the depositor to provide the name and address of his patent agent. If required, CChRGM will supply copies of the receipt and viability statement and any other information to the depositor and his patent agent.

Conversion of Previous Deposits

CChRGM does not hold deposits made for patent purposes beyond what is stipulated by the Budapest Treaty.

Making a New Deposit

When the depositor makes a new deposit, he shall be asked to complete the model form BP/2 and to attach the documents required under Rule 6.2.

The receipt and viability certificate for a new deposit shall, as a matter of course, be issued using international forms BP/5 and BP/9.

8. Supply of Samples

Requests for Samples

CChRGM will inform third parties of the procedures for the correct formulation of requests. In cases where requests require proof of authorization, CChRGM will supply the requesting parties with the request forms used by industrial property offices or copies of form BP/12.

Where requests from abroad are received, CChRGM assumes that the depositor knows the import requirements of his country.

All the samples sent by CChRGM come from groups of samples of specific preparations.

Notification to the Depositor

The depositor will be informed, by letter and email, where samples of his organisms have been sent to third parties.

Cataloguing of Budapest Treaty Deposits

CChRGM will publish the lists of deposits under the Budapest Treaty in its catalogues only with written authorization of the depositor.

9. Date on which CChRGM Undertakes to Operate as an International Depositary Authority

CChRGM undertakes to operate as an International Depositary Authority as of the date on which the relevant accreditation is granted, according to the Budapest Treaty.

10. List of Fees

Notes: The amounts do not take into account the dispatch costs and additional costs within Chile.