Plant Varieties Protection Act.

An Act to regulate the protection of new plant varieties. It defines at the outset certain terms therein employed, such as "varieties", "species", "country of the Union", 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 entitled persons are authorized to produce, sell or export seeds of the protected variety. At the same time, they must ensure the production of the protected variety and make available all information requested by the said Office. Entitled persons can also authorize others to grow a protected variety or ask for its cancellation from the Register. The duration of the protection of a plant variety lasts from 25 to 30 years. Part 2 deals with the authority responsible to act as Office for Protection of New Plant Varieties; the said Office must keep a Register of Plant Varieties. Part 3 establishes also the procedure requested for registering a plant variety and refers to all other legal and financial aspects. Finally, the Act sets out civil and penal penalties in case of violations, as well as final and transitional provisions. The Act consists of 42 articles divided into 6 Parts.