By national order

The application for a variety certificate shall be filed with the Patent Office. The filing date is considered to be the date on which the following documents were received by the Patent Office:

• application for issuance of a certificate for a variety, with identification data of the applicant and the author of the variety;
• description of the variety;
• proposal for variety denomination;
• completed technical questionnaire for the species;
• paid fees for application and publication of the application.

Each new variety is given a name that is associated with its genus or species and serves to identify it. The name may consist of one or two words or a combination of words, letters and a number, but not more than a four-digit number.

The following requirements are applied to the name of the variety:

• to be distinguished from any other name used in the country for that species or for closely related species, or from one which designates an existing variety in each Contracting State, including after the expiry of the certificate;
• not to enable misleading or ambiguity as to the characteristics, nature or identity of the variety or the identity of the breeder;
• not to violate rights, acquired earlier by third persons, who have acquired the right for such name

An application for a certificate for a variety, on which a preliminary examination has been carried out, shall be submitted within one month to the Executive Agency of Variety Testing Field Inspection and Seed Control, which shall perform an examination on the merits. The applicant is required to pay the relevant fee for expertise.

Submission for examination on the merits

Within one month after conducting a preliminary examination of the application, the Patent Office shall submit it to the Executive Agency of Variety Testing Field Inspection and Seed Control for examination on the merits, notifying the applicant to pay the relevant fees to the Executive Agency of Variety Testing Field Inspection and Seed Control

Publication of the application

The Patent Office shall publish the application in its Official Bulletin after the 4th month, but not later than the 6th month from the date of submission. All protection actions after the examination are essentially carried out by the Patent Office on the basis of the decisions and reports of the Executive Agency of Variety Testing Field Inspection and Seed Control.

Temporary protection

For the period from the publication of the application by the Patent Office for the issue of a variety certificate until its issuance, the applicant shall be granted temporary protection against the illegal actions of other persons.. The scope of the temporary protection is determined by the description and the model, insofar as the issued certificate does not extend it.

Issuance of a certificate

The Patent Office shall issue a certificate on the basis of the decision on the recognition of the variety and if within three months from the notification of the applicant of the decision, fees shall be paid for the issuance and publication of the certificate.

Publication of issued certificate

For a issued certificate for a variety, a publication shall be made in the Official Bulletin of the Patent Office.

Maintaining the validity of an issued certificate

An annual fee is due to maintain the validity of the certificate. The annual fee for the first and for each of the following years shall be paid by the last day of the month in which the certificate is issued.

A certificate that has expired due to non-payment of the annual fee may be recovered within six months from the last day of the month in which the certificate was issued if the overdue fee of double the amount is paid to the Patent Office.

Waiver of right

The certificate shall be terminated due to a waiver of its holder from the date of filing with the Patent Office. The waiver of one of the co-holders of the certificate shall not terminate its validity in respect of the others;