TITLE X
TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 52
Protection of Known Varieties
(1) Notwithstanding Article 5, a plant variety certificate may also be issued, on the
following conditions, for a variety that is no longer new on the date of entry into force of this
Annex:
(a) the application shall be filed within the year following the above date, and
(b) the variety must:
(i) have been entered in the national catalogue of varieties passed for marketing of a
member State or of a Contracting Party of the International Convention for the Protection of
New Varieties of Plants or in a variety register kept by a professional association and accepted
by the Organization for the purposes of this Article;
(ii) have been the subject of a plant variety certificate in a Contracting Party, or of an
application for a plant variety certificate in a Contracting Party, on condition that such
application subsequently leads to the issue of a certificate, or
(iii) be the subject of documents confirming, to the satisfaction of the Organization, the
date on which the variety ceased to be new within the meaning of Article 5.
(2) Where protection is granted, the term thereof shall be reduced by the number of
years that have elapsed between the time at which the variety was first offered for sale or
distributed and that at which the application was filed.
(3) Where a plant variety certificate is issued under this Article, the owner may not
prohibit exploitation by any third party who was exploiting the variety in good faith prior to
the filing of the application.
* French title: Accord portant révision de l’Accord de Bangui du 02 mars 1977 instituant une Organisation
Africaine de la Propriété Intellectuelle.
Entry into force: See Article 43 of the Agreement.
Source: Communication from the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI).
Note: Translation by the International Bureau of WIPO.
** Added by the International Bureau of WIPO.
1
Not indicated here (Editor’s note).