New Plant Varieties

– Law No. 99-42 of May 10, 1999, relating to Seeds, Seedlings and Plant Varieties.
– Order of The Minister for Agriculture of June 24, 2000.

Membership in International Conventions

– International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 1991 Act, since August 31, 2003.

Filing

Applicant: the breeder (any Tunisian natural person or corporate body), his representative or his successor in title; the public entity, if the variety has been obtained by a breeder under an employment agreement. The name of the breeder is mentioned on the certificate when he is not the applicant.

Foreigners: a national of another country may obtain a plant variety certificate on condition of reciprocity.

Conditions for protection: protection is granted to certain genera or species listed in the National Catalog of Plant Varieties at the Ministry of Agriculture. The plant variety must be new, distinguishable, homogeneous and stable and must bear a variety name.

Novelty: a variety shall be deemed new if, at the date of filing of the application for a breeder’s right, propagating material or harvested material of the variety has not been sold or otherwise disposed of to others, by or with the consent of the breeder, for purposes of exploitation of the variety: – in Tunisia for more than one year, – abroad for more than four years or, in the case of trees and vine, for more than six years.

Priority: may be claimed, based upon the earliest application, only during a period of twelve months as from the filing date of the first application.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Duly completed forms as provided by the competent authority;
2. A description of the method by which the plant variety has been bred or discovered;
3. A detailed description of the plant variety mentioning the characteristics that enable it to be distinguished from varieties already known;
4. A sworn statement confirming, in particular, that the variety constitutes a new plant variety within the meaning of the law;
5. The proposed denomination of the variety;
6. Payment of the prescribed fees at the time of filing the application;
7. A sample of the variety to be held by the examining authority;
8. Written authorization from the title holder(s) if the application refers to a variety of which the commercial production requires the repeated use of a protected variety;
9. Any additional documents or information considered useful for examination of the application.

Publication: applications and granted certificates are published in the Official Bulletin of the Tunisian Republic.

Observations: possible by any person within three months from the publication of the application.

Examination Procedure

The grant of a breeder’s certificate is obtained after examination by the Technical Committee.

Filing authority: Direction générale de la protection et du contrôle de la qualité des produits agricoles, Service d’homologation et de protection des obtentions végétales, Tunis, tel (+216-71) 788979 / 800419.

Opposition: not provided for, unless the novelty, distinctiveness, uniformity and stability requirements were not satisfied at the time the certificate was granted in cases where grant of the certificate was based on the information and documents provided by the applicant, or when the new plant variety certificate was granted to a person not entitled thereto, unless it is transferred to the person entitled thereto.

Granting

Beginning of protection: date of granting.

Duration: the breeder’s right is granted for a period of twenty years, or twenty-five years depending on the species.

Annuities: payable.

Modification of Protection after Granting

Assignment and licenses: the breeder may grant exploitation licenses, which must be recorded at the Register of Protected Varieties.

Use: the applicant or the breeder’s rights may be assigned partially or totally if the rights to the variety are not used within three years from grant or four years from filing.

Compulsory licenses: possible; if the market is not provided with a propagating material of a protected variety which is significant to the interests of the State economy or the public, a compulsory license may be granted by the competent authority against fair and reasonable compensation.

Nullification: a breeder’s right is declared null and void if it is established that (1) the application for variety protection has been granted in non-conformity with the requirements of the law; (2) the characteristics of the variety have been altered; (3) the breeder does not allow inspections; (4) the owner of the Certificate has failed to pay in due course the administrative and annual fees. It is published in the Official Journal.

Appeal: can be filed within one month from the official publication.

Surrender: the breeder’s right may be surrendered, partially or totally, at any time, upon submission of a written request to the competent authority.

Infringement: the owner of the certificate or his legal successors may file an action for infringement; penal provisions are provided.

Penalties: provided for.