Commission Regulation (EC) No 569/2003 of 28 March 2003 amending Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 establishing implementation rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 as regards the fees payable to the Community Plant Variety Office
Date: 2003-03-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Community Plant Variety Office, European patent, administrative procedure, application of EU law, crop production, patent law, tax system

29.3.2003

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 82/13

COMMISSION REGULATION (EC) No 569/2003

of 28 March 2003

amending Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 establishing implementation rules for the application of
Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 as regards the fees payable to the Community Plant Variety
Office

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 of 27
July 1994 on Community plant variety rights (1), as amended
by Regulation (EC) No 2506/95 (2), and in particular Article
113(4) thereof,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

Commission Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 of 31 May
1995 establishing implementing rules for the application
of Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 as regards the
fees payable to the Community Plant Variety Office (3),
as amended by Regulation (EC) No 329/2000 (4), sets
out fees payable to the Community Plant Variety Office
(‘the Office’), and the levels of such fees.

The Administrative Council of the Office has submitted
to the Commission draft amendments relating to the fees
payable to the Office under Regulation (EC) No 2100/
94.

The SWIFT electronic bank payment method should
provide sufficient documentary evidence to show that an
applicant has taken the necessary steps to pay the appli-
cation fee into the account of the Office.

Under Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94, the applica-
tion fee is intended to cover several stages of the proces-
sing of an application. Therefore the Office should
refund a fixed proportion of the application fee where,
following the initial examination of the application, it is
apparent that the applications is not valid.

To reflect the administration costs of the Community
plant variety rights system that are not covered by other
fees, the annual fee should not vary according to the
species protected, nor increase over time.

(1) OJ L 227, 1.9.1994, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 258, 28.10.1995, p. 3.
(3) OJ L 121, 1.6.1995, p. 31.
(4) OJ L 37, 12.2.2000, p. 19.

(6)

(7)

(8)

(9)

The financial reserve of the Office has reached a level
which exceeds the level necessary to safeguard the conti-
nuity of its operations. Therefore, the amount of the
annual fee should be linked to a reduction of the reserve
for the period 2003 to 2005.

The due date for payment of the annual
fee should
precede the beginning of the year of the protection of
the plant variety right to which it relates in order to
avoid conferring free protection in the event of non-
payment of such fee.

It is appropriate to remove the difference between the
fees charged for making entries
in the register of
Community plant variety rights and the register of appli-
cations. In addition only one fee should be charged for
making the same entry in a register in relation to a
request covering more than one variety in the same
ownership.

Under Commission Regulation (EC) No 1239/95 of 31
May 1995 establishing implementing rules for the appli-
cation of Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 as
regards proceedings before the Community Plant Variety
Office (5), as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 2181/
2002 (6), the Office is to pay for technical examinations.
It is necessary to increase the fees charged to applicants
for technical examinations and to introduce different fee
groups. The fee increases should be achieved in two
stages, due to the large amount of the increase.

(10)

Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 should therefore be
amended accordingly.

(11)

The new measures shall apply in relation to fees that fall
due from 1 April 2003.

(12)

The Administrative Council has been consulted in accor-
dance with Regulation (EC) No 2100/94.

(13)

The provisions of this Regulation are in accordance with
the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plant Variety
Rights,

(5) OJ L 121, 1.6.1995, p. 37.
(6) OJ L 331, 7.12.2002, p. 14.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

(b) the following paragraph 7 is added:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 is amended as follows:

1. Article 4 is amended as follows:

(a) point 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3. Where the payment is considered not to have
been received by the Office within the requisite time
limit, such time limit shall be considered to have been
observed vis-à-vis the Office where sufficient documen-
tary evidence is produced within that time limit to show
that the person making the payment duly gave an order
to a banking establishment or a post office to transfer
the amount of the payment in euro to a bank account
held by the Office within the time limit.’;

(b) point 4 is deleted;

(c) point 5 is replaced by the following:

‘5.
Documentary evidence shall be regarded as suffi-
cient within the meaning of point 3 where an acknow-
ledgement of provision of the transfer order, issued by a
banking establishment or a post office,
is produced.
However, where the transfer ordered was a transfer
using the SWIFT electronic bank payment method, the
acknowledgement of provision of the transfer order shall
take the form of a copy of the SWIFT report, stamped
and signed by a duly authorised official of the bank or
post office.’;

‘7. Where the application fee is received but
the
application is not valid under Article 50 of the basic
Regulation, the Office shall retain EUR 300 of the appli-
cation fee and refund the remainder when notifying the
applicant of the deficiencies found in the application.’;

3. Article 9(1) and (2) are replaced by the following:

‘1.
The Office shall charge a holder of a Community
plant variety right (hereinafter referred to as “the holder”) a
fee for each year of the duration of a Community plant
variety right (annual fee) of EUR 300 for the years 2003 to
2005 and of EUR 435 for the year 2006 and the following
years.

Payment of the annual fee shall be due:

2.
(a) in relation to the first year of the term of the Commu-
nity plant variety right, within 60 days of date of the
grant of the right; and

(b) in relation to subsequent years of

the
Community plant variety right, on the first day of the
calendar month preceding the month in which the anni-
versary of the date grant falls.’;

the term of

4. Article 10 is amended as follows:

(a) in the fifth indent of paragraph 1(b),

‘ECU 300’

is

replaced by ‘EUR 100’;

(b) the following paragraph 3 is added:

‘3. Where a request for an entry referred to in point
(b) or (c) of paragraph 1 concerns more than one appli-
cation or registered right, applied for or held by the
same person, only one fee shall be charged.’;

5. Annex I is amended in accordance with the Annex to this

2. Article 7 is amended as follows:

(a) paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

Regulation;

6. Annex II is deleted.

‘5.
Paragraph 4 shall not apply where the application
is accompanied by sufficient documentary evidence
showing that the person making the payment duly gave
an order to a banking establishment or a post office to
transfer the amount of the payment in euro to a bank
account held by the Office; Article 4 (5) shall apply
mutatis mutandis.’;

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply in relation to fees that fall due from 1 April
2003.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 28 March 2003.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission

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Annex I is replaced by the following:

ANNEX

‘ANNEX I

Fees relating to technical examinations as referred to in Article 8

The fee to be paid for the technical examination of a variety pursuant to Article 8 shall be determined, by reference to
the year in which the growing period begins and to the species group to which the variety belongs, in accordance with
the table:

Cost group

Agricultural group

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Regular crops

Vegetatively propagated crops

Oilcrops

Grasses

Beet crops

Fibre crops

Crops with special test arrangements

Other agricultural crops

Ornamental group

(in EUR)

Fee in years 2003
to 2005

Fee in year 2006 et
seq.

1 020

1 190

1 020

1 020

1 020

1 020

1 020

1 020

1 020

1 190

1 020

1 020

1 020

1 020

1 020

1 020

9

9A

10

11

12

13

Species with living reference collection, greenhouse test, long cultiva-
tion

1 190

1 190

Species with living reference collection, greenhouse test, long cultiva-
tion and special phytosanitary conditions

1 200

2 040

Species with living reference collection, greenhouse test, short culti-
vation

1 105

Species with living reference collection, outdoor test, long cultivation

1 105

1 105

1 105

Species with living reference collection, outdoor test, short cultiva-
tion

1 105

1 105

Species without living reference collection, greenhouse test,
cultivation

long

1 200

1 360

13A

Species without living reference collection, greenhouse test,
cultivation with a further propagation step

long

1 200

2 040

14

15

16

17

18

19

Species without living reference collection, greenhouse test, short
cultivation

1 105

1 105

Species without living reference collection, outdoor test, long cultiva-
tion

1 105

1 105

Species without living reference collection, outdoor test, short culti-
vation

New species, greenhouse test

New species, outdoor test

Seed-propagated species(not falling into any other category)

1 105

1 190

1 190

1 200

1 105

1 190

1 190

1 360

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Cost group

Vegetable group

20

21

22

23

Seed-propagated species, outdoor test

Seed-propagated species, greenhouse test

Vegetatively propagated species, outdoor test

Vegetatively propagated species, greenhouse test

Fruit groups

24

Trees

24A

Tree species with a large permanent living reference collection

25

26

27

Shrubs

Vine habit

Runners

(in EUR)

Fee in years 2003
to 2005

Fee in year 2006 et
seq.

1 050

1 200

1 050

1 200

1 050

1 050

1 050

1 050

1 050

1 445

1 955

1 700

1 360

1 615

2 380

1 190

1 190

1 870’