THE GOVERNMENT -------	SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness ----------
No: 104/2006/ND-CP	Hanoi, September 22, 2006

DECREE

DETAILING AND GUIDING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF A NUMBER OF ARTICLES OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAW REGARDING RIGHTS TO PLANT VARIETIES

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to November 29, 2005 Law No. 50/2005/QH11 on Intellectual Property;

At the proposal of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,

DECREES:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Scope of regulation

This Decree details and guides the implementation of a number of articles of the Intellectual Property Law regarding rights to plant varieties, covering responsibilities for state management of rights to plant varieties; order and procedures of establishment of rights to plant varieties; rights and obligations of protection title holders and breeders of plant varieties; assignment or transfer of rights to protected plant varieties.

Article 2.- Subjects of application

This Decree applies to:

1. Vietnamese organizations and individuals;

2. Foreign organizations and individuals that have permanent residence addresses or establishments producing or trading in plant varieties in Vietnam;

3. Organizations and individuals that are citizens of countries which have concluded with Vietnam agreements on protection of rights to plant varieties.

4. Foreign organizations and individuals that are not citizens of countries which have concluded with Vietnam agreements on protection of rights to plant varieties but have permanent residence addresses or lawfully registered offices in the territory of a country which has concluded with Vietnam an agreement on protection of rights to plant varieties.

Article 3.- Interpretation of terms

In this Decree, the terms below are construed as follows:

1. "Plant variety" referred to in this Decree means a complete plant variety, or a propagating material or harvested material of any plant variety belonging to an agricultural, forest or aquatic plant species or a fungus species newly selected and bred or discovered and developed from a plant species on the list of protected plant varieties;

2. "Plant variety protection title holder" means an organization or individual granted a title of protection of rights to a plant variety;

3. "Propagating material" means plant organs capable of developing into a full-grown plant, such as seed, spore, stem, root, seedling, grafted branch, grafted stemma, grafted plant, hypha, tuber, fruit, bud, flower, tissue, cell or other organs of a plant;

4. "Harvested material" means a full-grown plant or any plant organ obtained from the planting of a propagating material of a plant variety;

5. "Formal examination" means the examination of the completeness and validity of an application according to the provisions of Article 10 of this Decree;

6. "Substantive examination" means the examination of the novelty, distinctness, uniformity, stability and denomination of a plant variety;

7. "Detailed description of a plant variety" means a document expressing characteristics of a plant variety made under the distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) test guidelines and certified by the agency in charge of protection of plant varieties. A detailed description is considered having been already published when it has been made available to the public in such form as scientific report or news report, or an article in newspapers, magazines or other printed matters;

8. "Agency in charge of protection of plant varieties" referred to in this Decree means the Office for Protection of Plant Varieties at the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry.

9. "Lawful representative" of a foreign organization or individual registering for protection of plant varieties in Vietnam means an organization or individual, including Vietnamese citizens, foreign organizations or individuals having a production or business establishment or a permanent residence address in Vietnam in accordance with the law of Socialist Republic of Vietnam, that is authorized in writing by an organization or individual owning a plant variety registered for protection to register for protection of rights to that plant variety;

10. "Plant variety breeder" means a person who directly performs part or whole of the work of selecting and breeding or discovering and developing a new plant variety.

11. "Country having concluded with Vietnam an agreement on protection of rights to plant varieties" means any country which has concluded with Vietnam a bilateral agreement, or countries being members of an inter-governmental organization which has concluded with Vietnam an agreement on protection of rights to plant varieties.

Article 4.- Responsibilities of ministries and ministerial-level agencies for protection of rights to plant varieties

1. The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry shall perform the state management of protection of rights to plant varieties nationwide, having the following responsibilities:

a/ To submit to competent authorities for promulgation or to promulgate according to its competence legal documents on protection of rights to plant varieties and organize the implementation thereof;

b/ To grant, withdraw, revoke or cancel plant variety protection titles;

c/ To promulgate a list of protected plant varieties; process and procedures of technical testing of plant varieties;

d/ To define the organization, functions, tasks and powers of the agency in charge of protection of plant varieties;

e/ To organize the communication, education and dissemination of law on protection of rights to plant varieties;

f/ To examine, inspect and handle administrative violations in the protection of rights to plant varieties;

g/ To promote international cooperation on protection of rights to plant varieties.

2. The Science and Technology Ministry, the Fisheries Ministry, the Finance Ministry and other ministries, ministerial-level agencies and government-attached agencies shall, within the ambit of their assigned tasks and vested powers, coordinate with the Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry in performing the state management of protection of rights to plant varieties.

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