Varieties Protection Act.

An Act to regulate in detail the protection of plant varieties. It defines at the outset the various terms therein employed, such as "variety", "species", "related species", "marketing", "convention country", "country of the Union", etc. Article 2 lists the species for which protection can be requested; for example, for wheat (triticum durum); for barley (hordeum vulgare); for oat (avena sativa); for potatoes (solanum tuberosum); for vine (vitis sp.), etc. Protection is granted by the Office for Protection of New Plant Varieties only if a variety is new, constant, homogenous and distinguishable. As a result only the entitled person is authorized to produce, sell or export the seeds of the protected variety. At the same time, he must ensure the production of the protected variety and make available all information requested by the above-mentioned Office. The entitled person can also authorize others to grow the protected variety or he can ask for its cancellation from the Register. The duration of the protection of a plant variety lasts from 25 to 30 years. Moreover, protected plant varieties must be given a name not exceeding three words by the competent Office. Part 2 deals with the authority responsible to act as Office for Protection of New Plant Varieties; in case of appeal the matters is dealt with by the Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry. The said Office is due to keep a Register of Plant Varieties. This Part establishes also the procedure requested for registering a plant variety and refers to all other legal and financial aspects. Finally, the Law sets out the civil and penal penalties in case of violation, as well as the final and transitional provisions. It consists of 37 articles divided into 5 Parts.