WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DU COMMERCE
ORGANIZACIÓN MUNDIAL DEL COMERCIOIP/N/1/CZE/P/2
23 October 2001
(01-5195)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English/
anglais/inglés
MAIN DEDICATED INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
LAWS AND REGULATIONS NOTIFIED UNDER
ARTICLE 63.2 OF THE AGREEMENT
CZECH REPUBLIC
By means of a communication from its Permanent Mission, dated 23 November 2000, the Czech
Republic has notified, under Article 63.2 of the Agreement, the attached text
1 of Act No. 206/2000 Coll., on the
Protection of Biotechnological Inventions and on the Amendment to Act No. 132/1989 Coll., on the Protectionof Rights to New Plant and Animal Varieties, as amended by Act No. 93/1996 Coll., which entered into force on
1 October 2000. (Act No. 132/1989 has been distributed in document IP/N/1/CZE/P/1.)
Conseil des aspects des droits de propriété
intellectuelle qui touchent au commerce
PRINCIPALES LOIS ET RÉGLEMENTATIONS CONSACRÉES À LA
PROPRIÉTÉ INTELLECTUELLE NOTIFIÉES AU TITRE
DE L'ARTICLE 63:2 DE L'ACCORD
RÉPUBLIQUE TCHÈQUE
Par une communication de sa Mission permanente, datée du 23 novembre 2000, la République tchèque
a notifié, au titre de l'article 63:2 de l'Accord, le texte1 ci-joint de la Loi n° 206 de 2000 sur la protection des
inventions biotechnologiques, portant modification de la Loi n° 132 de 1989 sur la protection des obtentionsvégétales et des races animales améliorées – modifiée par la Loi n° 93 de 1996 -, qui est entrée en vigueur le1
er octobre 2000.  (La Loi n° 132 de 1989 a été distribuée sous la cote IP/N/1/CZE/P/1.)
Consejo de los Aspectos de  los Derechos de Propiedad
Intelectual relaciona dos con el Comercio
PRINCIPALES LEYES Y REGLAMENTOS DEDICADOS A LA
PROPIEDAD INTELECTUAL NOTIFICADOS EN VIRTUD
DEL PÁRRAFO 2 DEL ARTÍCULO 63 DEL ACUERDO
REPÚBLICA CHECA
Mediante una comunicación de su Misión Permanente , de fecha 23 de noviembre de 2000, la República
Checa ha notificado, en virtud de lo dispuesto en el párrafo 2 del artículo 63 del Acuerdo, el texto1 adjunto de la
Ley Nº 206/2000 de Protección de las Invenciones Biot ecnológicas y de enmienda de la Ley Nº 132/1989 de
Protección de las Obtenciones Vegetales y las Nuevas Variedades Animales, modificada por la Ley Nº 93/1996,
que entró en vigor el 1º de octubre de 2000.  (La Ley Nº 132/1989 se distribuyó con el documentoIP/N/1/CZE/P/1.)
                                                     
1 In English only./En anglais seulement./En inglés solamente.IP/N/1/CZE/P/2
Page 2
206
LAW
of  21 June 2000,
on the Protection of Bi otechnological Inventions
and on the Amendment to Act № 132/1989 of Coll., on the Protection of Rights to New
Plant and Animal Varieties, as amended by Act № 93/1996 of Coll.
The Parliament has adopted the fo llowing Law of the Czech Republic:
PART ONE
PROTECTION OF BIOTECHNOLOGICAL INVENTIONS
Article 1
Definitions
For the purpose of this Act,
a) biological material means any material c ontaining genetic information and capable of
reproducing itself or being reproduced in a biological system,
b) microbiological process means any process involving or performed upon or resulting in
microbiological material,
c) essentially biological process for the produ ction of plants or animals means such a
process, which consists entirely of natura l phenomena such as crossing or selection.
Article 2
Patentable biotechnological inventions
Biotechnological inventions are patentable, if they concern
a) biological material, which is isolated from its natural environment or produced by means
of a technical process, even if it previously occurred in nature,
b) plants or animals, if the technical feasibility of the invention is not confined to a particular
plant1) or animal2) variety, or
c) microbiological or other technical process and a product, other than a plant or animal
variety, obtained by this way.
                                                     
1) Article 2 a) of the Act № 132/1989 of Coll., on the Protection of Rights to New Plant and Animal
Varieties, as amended by Act № 93/1996 of Coll.
2) Article 2 c) of the Act № 132/1989 of Coll.IP/N/1/CZE/P/2
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Article 3
Exclusions of patentability
Patents shall be not granted to
a) inventions, whose commercial exploitation w ould be contrary to public policy or to
principles of morality, namely to proce sses for cloning human beings, processes for
modifying the germ line genetic identity of human beings, processes of using humanembryos for industrial or commercial purposes  or processes for modifying the genetic
identity of animals, which are likely to caus e them suffering without any substantial
medical benefit to man or animal, and also to animals resulting from such processes;however, the contradiction to public policy or  to principles of morality shall not be
deduced merely from the fact that the exploita tion of the invention is prohibited by legal
regulation,
b) human body at various stages of its formati on and development, a nd the simple discovery
of one of its elements, including the sequen ce or partial sequence  of a gene; it does not
apply to an element isolated from the human  body or otherwise produced by means of a
technical process, including the sequence or partial sequence of a gene, even if the
structure of that element is identical to that of a natural element, and
c) plant and animal varieties or essential biologi cal processes for the production of plants or
animals.
Article 4
Provisions of the special legal regulation
3) will be applied to the procedure of the
invention application and its requi sites and to the patent of i nvention, consisting of biological
material or containing biolog ical material or concerning the process applied to production,
treatment or exploitation of biol ogical material (hereinafter referred to as “biotechnological
inventions”).
Article 5
Special provisions on the applicat ion of biotechnological invention
(1) Where an invention involves the use of or concerns biological material which is
not available to the public and which cannot be described in a patent application in such a
manner as to enable the invention to be re produced by a person skilled in the art, the
description shall be cons idered inadequate unless:
a) the biological material has been deposited no later than the date, from which the right of
priority belongs to the applicant, with th e recognised depositary institution, which has
acquired this status by virtue  of Article 7 of the Budapest  Treaty of 28 April 1977 on the
international recognition of the deposit of micro-organisms for the purposes of patent
procedure, (hereinafter referred  to as the “Budapest Treaty”),4)
b) the application of invention as filed contains such relevant information as is available to
the applicant on the characteristics of the biological material deposited, and
                                                     
3) Law № 527/1990 of Coll., Act on Inventions, Industrial Designs and Rationalisation Proposals as
amended.
4) Decree № 212/1989 of Coll., on Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of
Micro-organisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure and Implementing Regulations to it.IP/N/1/CZE/P/2
Page 4
c) the patent application states the name of the depository institution and the accession
number of the sample.
(2) Access to the deposited material shall be  provided through the supply of a sample:
a) between the first publication of the application and the granting of the patent, to anyone
requesting it (hereinafter referred to as the “petitioner”) or, if the applicant so request, onlyto an independent expert, or
b) after the patent has been granted, and not withstanding cancellation of the patent, to
anyone requesting it.
(3) The sample shall be supplied only if the petitioner or an independent expert in
terms of paragraph 2 undertakes, for the te rm during which the patent is in force:
a) not to make the sample or any material derived from it available to third parties, and
b) not to use the sample or any material derived from it except for experimental purposes,
unless the applicant for or proprietor of the pa tent, as applicable, expressly waives such an
undertaking.
(4) The applicant is entitled to limit access to  the deposit material for 20 years from
the date on which the patent application was f iled to anybody, except an independent expert,
even in case, where the application is refused or withdrawn; in that case, paragraph 3 shallapply.
(5) The applicant shall notify the limita tion of access to the deposit biological
material,  mentioned in paragr aph 2 (a) and in paragraph 4, to  the Industrial Property Office
(hereinafter referred to as the “Office”) at the latest on the date, on which the preparations forpublishing the patent applica tion have been completed. The Office will publish such a
limitation of access to the deposit biol ogical material together w ith the invention application
in the Bulletin of the Industrial Property Office.
(6) If the biological material deposited in accordance with paragraph 1 ceases to be
available from the recognised depository ins titution, a new deposit of the material shall be
permitted on the same terms as those laid down in the Budapest Treaty.
(7) Any new deposit shall be accompanied by a statement signed by the depositor and
certifying that the newly deposit biological material is the same as that originally deposited.
(8) If the application concerns an inventi on of the sequence or partial sequence of a
gene, their industrial applicability must be  made obvious in the patent application.
Article 6
Scope of protection
(1) The protection conferred by a patent on a biological material  possessing specific
characteristics as a result of the invention shall extend to any biological material derived fromthat biological material through propagation or multiplication in an identical or divergentform and possessing those same characteristics.
(2) The protection conferred by a patent  on a process that enables a biological
material to be produced possessing specific characteristics as a result of the invention shallextend to biological material  directly obtained through this process and to any other
biological material derived fro m the directly obtained biological material through propagation
or multiplication in an identical or divergent form and possessing those same characteristics.IP/N/1/CZE/P/2
Page 5
(3) The protection conferred by a patent on a product containing or consisting of
genetic information shall extend to all material, in which the product is incorporated or inwhich the genetic information is contained and performs its function, except the human body
at the various stages of its  formation or development.
Article 7
Exhaustion of rights
(1) The patent holder is not entitled to prohibit the propagation or multiplication of
biological material being subject  of the patent, if it has been placed on the market by himself
or with his consent, and if the propagati on or multiplication necessarily results from the
application for which the biological material has been marketed, provided that the obtained
material is not subsequently used for other propagation or multiplication.
Article 8
Limitation of rights of patent holder
(1) The person, who has obtained the plant pr opagating material being subject of the
patent from its holder or with his consent, is  authorised to use for reproduction during his
agricultural activity except commercial expl oitation, also the product of his harvest.
(2) The person, which has obtained the anima l reproductive material being subject of
the patent from its holder or with his consent, is authorised to use this material during hisagricultural activity except commercial exploitation; this includes making the animal or otheranimal reproductive material available.
Article 9
Compulsory licence and compulsory cross-licence
(1) If a breeder
5) cannot obtain or exploit a plant or animal variety right without
infringing a prior patent, he may apply for a compulsory licence for non- exclusive use of the
invention protected by the patent. The Office will grant the compulsory licence, if thebreeding certificate holder applied unsuccessfully  to the holder of the patent to obtain a
contractual licence and if the plant or animal variety constitutes significant technical progressof considerable economic interest compared w ith the invention, protected by the patent. In
this case, the holder of the patent will be entitled to a cross-licence to commercial use ofprotected variety on the same conditions, as applied for a compulsory licence according to aspecial legal regulation.
6)
(2) If a compulsory licence to commercial use of protected plant or animal variety has
been granted to the holder of the patent according to a special legal regulation6), the breeding
certificate holder will be entitled to a cross-licence to use the patent of invention.
                                                     
5) Article 2 (g) of the Act № 132/1989 of Coll.
6) Article 10 of the Act № 132/1989 of Coll.IP/N/1/CZE/P/2
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PART TWO
AMENDMENT TO THE ACT № 132/1989 OF COLL., ON THE PROTECTION OF
RIGHTS TO NEW PLANT AND ANIMAL VARIETIES,
AS AMENDED BY ACT № 93/1996 OF COLL.
Article 10
In Article 10 of the Act № 132/1989 of Coll., on the Protection of Rights to New
Plant and Animal Varieties, as amended by Act № 93/1996 of Coll., the paragraphs 3 and 4
are added, having the following wording:
“(3) If a holder of a patent of a biotechnol ogical invention cannot exploit this patent
without infringing a prior right to plant or animal variety, he may apply for a compulsory
licence for non-exclusive use of the plant or animal variety. The Ministry will grant the
compulsory licence, if the holder of a patent a pplied unsuccessfully to the breeding certificate
holder to obtain a contractual licence and if the invention protected by the patent constitutessignificant technical progress of considerable economic interest compared with the plant oranimal variety. The paragraph 2 applies for sti pulation of amount of licence fees in case of
granting the compulsory licence. In this case, the breeding certificate holder will be entitledto a cross-licence to use of the biotechnological invention.
(4) If a compulsory licence to use of the biotechnological invention has been granted
to the breeding certificate holder, the holder of a patent will be entitled to a cross-licence tocommercial use of the plant or animal variety.”.
PART THREE
Article 11
This Act shall enter into force on 1
st October 2000.
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