New Plant Varieties

– Decision No. 345 of the Andean Community (Cartagena Agreement).
– Secretarial Resolution No. 064/96, of August 9, 1996.
– Bolivian Law of Adhesion – Law 1968 of March 24, 1999.

Membership in International Conventions

– International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), as amended in 1972 and 1978, since May 21, 1999.

Filing

Applicant: anyone – natural person or legal entity – who has created a vegetal variety which is new, homogeneous, distinguishable and stable by means of the application of scientific knowledge to the improvement of plants.

Filing requirements for foreigners and nationals not living in the country: must appoint a resident agent and send a power of attorney, duly apostilled.

Novelty: is lost when the exploitation has begun at least one year before the application date for the breeder’s certification if the sale occurred in a territory outside the Andean Community, or four years in a country inside the Andean Community.

Distinctiveness: a variety is deemed distinguishable if it differs clearly from any other whose existence is commonly known. A variety is considered homogeneous if it is uniform enough in its essential features. A variety is considered stable if its essential features remain unaltered from generation to generation and after each reproduction, multiplication or propagation cycle. The name must be distinctive enough compared to other names registered before.

Protection

Duration: twenty-five years for trees and wines, and twenty years for other varieties, as of the granting date.

Annuities: an annuity to maintain the validity of the plant variety protection has to be paid.

Compulsory licenses: in exceptional or public interest cases, the State can grant access to the variety on the basis of a compensation.