Ministerial Decree of 22 October 1976 implementing Presidential Decree No. 974 of 12 August 1975 on the Protection of New Plant Varieties.

The application for a patent for a new plant variety shall include: the name, first name, nationality and residence of the applicant and the name of his representative, if any the indication, in the form of a title, of the botanical name in Italian and Latin of the genus and/or species to which the plant variety belongs, and, in brief and concise terms, of its essential distinctive botanical characteristics; the indication of the denomination that the applicant proposes to give the variety; the indication of the breeder or breeders of the new plant variety; other indications that, in accordance with the legislative provisions concerning patents for industrial inventions, and a list of the documents enclosed.
The variety shall be described in such a way as to make it clear how it was obtained and what the morphological or physiological characteristics are that distinguish it from other known similar varieties. Where a variety, together with its denomination, is in the process of being entered or has already been entered in an official Italian register of plant varieties, the same denomination shall be proposed in the application for a patent.
In order to ascertain whether the conditions required for the grant of the patent are maintained in the new plant variety being the subject of the patent, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry may request, of the owner or his successor in title, the reproductive or vegetative propagating material necessary for the carrying out of the check. (25 articles)