UPOV Convention: 1961 Act

Article 28

[Languages To Be Used by the Office and in the Council]

(1)

The English, French and German languages shall be used by the Office of the Union in carrying out its duties.

(2)

Meetings of the Council and of revision conferences shall be held in the three languages.

(3)

If the need arises, the Council may decide, by a majority of three-quarters of the members present, that further languages shall be used.

Article 29

[Special Agreements for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants]

Member States of the Union reserve the right to conclude among themselves special agreements for the protection of new varieties of plants, in so far as such agreements do not contravene the provisions of this Convention.

Member States of the Union which have not taken part in making such agreements shall be allowed to accede to them at their request.

Article 30

[Implementation of the Convention on the Domestic Level;

Special Agreements on the Joint Utilization of Examination Services]

(1)

Each member State of the Union shall undertake to adopt all measures necessary for the application of this Convention.

In particular, each member State shall undertake to:

(a)

ensure to nationals of the other member States of the Union appropriate legal remedies for the effective defence of the rights provided for in this Convention,

(b)

set up a special authority for the protection of new varieties of plants or to entrust their protection to an existing authority; and

(c)

ensure that the public is informed of matters concerning such protection, including as a minimum the periodical publication of the list of titles of protection issued.

(2)

Special agreements may also be concluded between member States of the Union, with a view to the joint utilization of the services of the authorities entrusted with the examination of new varieties in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 and with assembling the necessary reference collections and documents.

(3)

It shall be understood that, on depositing its instrument of ratification or accession, each member State must be in a position, under its own domestic law, to give effect to the provisions of this Convention.

Article 31

[Signature and Ratification; Entry Into Force]

(1)

This Convention shall be open for signature until December 2, 1962, by States represented at the Paris Conference for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants.

(2)

This Convention shall be subject to ratification; instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Government of the French Republic, which shall notify such deposit to the other signatory States.

(3)

When the Convention has been ratified by at least three States, it shall enter into force in respect of those States thirty days after the deposit of the third instrument of ratification. It shall enter into force, in respect of each State which ratifies thereafter, thirty days after the deposit of its instrument of ratification

Article 32

[Accession; Entry Into Force]

(1)

This Convention shall be open to accession by non-signatory States in accordance with the provisions of paragraphs (3) and (4) of this Article.

(2)

Applications for accession shall be addressed to the Government of the Swiss Confederation, which shall notify them to the member States of the Union.

(3)

Applications for accession shall be considered by the Council having particular regard to the provisions of Article 30.

Having regard to the nature of the decision to be taken and to the difference in the rule adopted for revision conferences, accession by a non-signatory State shall be accepted if a majority of four-fifths of the members present vote in favor of its application.

Three-quarters of the member States of the Union must be represented when the vote is taken.

(4)

In the case of a favorable decision, the instrument of accession shall be deposited with the Government of the Swiss Confederation, which shall notify the member States of the Union of such deposit.

Accession shall take effect thirty days after the deposit of such instrument.

Article 33

[Communications Indicating the Genera and Species Eligible

for Protection]

(1)

When ratifying this Convention, in the case of a signatory State, or when submitting an application for accession, in the case of any other State, each State shall give, in the first case to the Government of the French Republic and in the second case to the Government of the Swiss Confederation, the list of genera or species in respect of which it undertakes to apply the provisions of the Convention in accordance with the requirements of Article 4. In addition, it shall specify, in the case of genera or species referred to in paragraph (4) of that Article, whether it intends to avail itself of the option of limitation available under that provision.

(2)

Each member State of the Union which subsequently decides to apply the provisions of this Convention to other genera or species shall communicate the same information as is required under paragraph (1) of this Article to the Government of the Swiss Confederation and to the Office of the Union, at least thirty days before its decision takes effect.

(3)

The Government of the French Republic or the Government of the Swiss Confederation, as the case may be, shall immediately communicate to all the member States of the Union the information referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this Article.

Article 34

[Territories]

(1)

Every member State of the Union, either on signing or on ratifying or acceding to this Convention, shall declare whether the Convention applies to all or to a part of its territories or to one or more or to all of the States or territories for which it is responsible.

This declaration may be supplemented at any time thereafter by notification to the Government of the Swiss Confederation. Such notification shall take effect thirty days after it has been received by that Government.

(2)

The Government which has received the declarations or notifications referred to inparagraph (1) of this Article shall communicate them to all member States of the Union.

Article 35

[Transitional Limitation of the Requirement of Novelty]

Notwithstanding the provisions of Article 6, any member State of the Union may, without thereby creating an obligation for other member States of the Union, limit the requirement of novelty laid down in that Article, with regard to varieties of recent creation existing at the date of entry into force of this Convention in respect of such State.

Article 36

[Transitional Rules Concerning the Relationship Between

Variety Denominations and Trade Marks)

(1)

If, at the date of entry into force of this Convention in respect of a member State of the Union, the breeder of a new variety protected in that State, or his successor in title, enjoys in that State the protection of the denomination of that variety as a trade mark for identical or similar products within the meaning of trade mark law, he may either renounce the protection in respect of the trade mark or submit a new denomination for the variety in the place of the previous denomination. If a new denomination has not been submitted within a period of six months, the breeder or his successor in title may not continue to assert his right to the trade mark for the above-mentioned products.

(2)

If a new denomination is registered for the variety, the breeder or his successor in title may not prohibit the use of the previous denomination by persons obliged to use it before the entry into force of this Convention, until a period of one year has expired from the publication of the registration of the new denomination.

Article 37

[Preservation of Existing Rights]

This Convention shall not affect existing rights under the national laws of member States of the Union or under agreements concluded between such States.

Article 38

[Settlement of Disputes]

(1)

Any dispute between two or more member States of the Union concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention which is not settled by negotiation shall, at the request of one of the States concerned, be submitted to the Council, which shall endeavour to bring about agreement between the member States concerned.

(2)

If such agreement is not reached within six months from the date when the dispute was submitted to the Council, the dispute shall be referred to an arbitration tribunal at the request of one of the parties concerned.

(3)

The tribunal shall consist of three arbitrators.

Where two member States are parties to a dispute, each of those States shall appoint an arbitrator.

Where more than two member States are parties to a dispute, two of the arbitrators shall be appointed by agreement among the States concerned.

If the States concerned have not appointed the arbitrators within a period of two months from the date on which the request for convening the tribunal was notified to them by the Office of the Union, any of the member States concerned may request the President of the International Court of Justice to make the necessary appointments.

In all cases, the third arbitrator shall be appointed by the President of the International Court of Justice.

If the President is a national of one of the member States parties to the dispute, the Vice-President shall make the appointments referred to above, unless he is himself also a national of one of the member States parties to the dispute. In this last case, the appointments shall be made by the member of the Court who is not a national of one of the member States parties to the dispute and who has been selected by the President to make the appointments.

(4)

The award of the tribunal shall be final and binding on the member States concerned.

(5)

The tribunal shall determine its own procedure, unless the member States concerned agree otherwise.

(6)

Each of the member States parties to the dispute shall bear the costs of its representation before the arbitration tribunal; other costs shall be borne in equal parts by each of the States.

Article 39

[Reservations]

Signature and ratification of and accession to this Convention shall not be subject to any reservation.

Article 40

(Duration and Denunciation of the Convention;

Discontinuation of the Application of the Convention to Territories]

(1)

This Convention shall be of unlimited duration.

(2)

Subject to the provisions of paragraph (4) of Article 27, if a member State of the Union denounces this Convention, such denunciation shall take effect one year after the date on which notification of denunciation is made by the Government of the Swiss Confederation to the other member States of the Union.

(3)

Any member State may at any time declare that the Convention shall cease to apply to certain of its territories or to States or territories in respect of which it has made a declaration in accordance with the provisions of Article 34. Such declaration shall take effect one year after the date on which notification thereof is made by the Government of the Swiss Confederation to the other member States of the Union.

(4)

Such denunciations and declarations shall not affect rights acquired by reason of this Convention prior to the expiration of the time limit laid down in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this Article.

Top of page

UPOV Lex