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The breeder’s right shall cover:
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the protected plant variety;
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any variety that is not clearly different from the protected variety;
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any variety essentially derived from the protected variety if the latter is
predominantly essentially derived from another variety;
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any variety whose production requires the repeated use of the protected variety.
Article 23
The breeder’s right shall not extend to:
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acts done privately for experimental purposes without being of a commercial nature;
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operations carried out as part of teaching or scientific research for the purpose of the
creation of new varieties.
Article 24
Notwithstanding the provisions of Articles 21 and 22 of this Law, certain new plant
varieties of extreme importance for the life of man or animals may be subject to a compulsory
authorization to exploit.
A compulsory authorization to exploit shall be given by an order of the Minister
responsible for agriculture.
As from publication of the order concerned, the competent authority may allocate
exploitation of the new plant variety that is the subject matter of the certificate to specialized
public establishments or to organisms or to private persons having the necessary technical and
professional capabilities in that field.
The holder of the breeder’s right shall be awarded equitable compensation for the
exploitation of the variety concerned or the transfer of revenue received from private persons in
that same respect.
In either case, the amounts shall be agreed amicably. In the event of disagreement, the
competent judicial authority shall lay down the amounts concerned.
Article 25
The breeders’ rights shall subsist for 20 years for ordinary varieties and for 25 years for
varieties where development of the production elements necessitates longer timescales.
Those periods shall begin to run as from the grant of the new plant variety certificate.
Article 26
Ownership of a new plant variety created by a public research official in the execution of
his duties shall belong to the State, represented by the public establishment to which he belongs.
The name of the official who has created the variety shall be entered on the new plant variety
certificate.