4° if he has not paid the prescribed fees for services rendered, where applicable, for the
maintenance of his right.
Forfeiture shall be pronounced on the conditions fixed by regulation.
Where it is pronounced under 4° above, the beneficiary of the certificate may, in the six
months following the end of the time period provided for, submit an appeal for the
reinstatement of his rights if he provides a legitimate reason for non-payment of the fees for
services rendered. However, such appeal may not infringe any rights acquired, where
applicable, by third parties.
A breeder liable to forfeit his rights under 2° or 3° above, shall be warned to put a stop
to this situation by means of notice given to him by the competent authority. If, upon the
expiry of a two-month period as from receipt of the notice, this formal notice has not been
acted upon, the breeder shall forfeit his breeder’s right.
31. Forfeiture of a breeder’s right shall be notified to the owner of the certificate. It
shall be entered in the national register of plant breed certificates and published in the journal
for the protection of plant varieties.
32. The seizure of a certificate shall be effected by an extrajudicial act notified to the
owner of the certificate, to the competent authority, and to the persons holding rights in the
certificate; no subsequent amendment of the rights deriving from the certificate shall be
binding on an attaching creditor.
On pain of invalidation of the seizure, the attaching creditor must, within the time
period set, bring legal proceedings before the competent court to confirm the validity of the
seizure and for the purpose of placing the certificate on sale.
33. The owner of a certificate may at any time waive, either in full or in part, the rights
deriving from said certificate.
Waiver shall be effected by means of a written declaration addressed to the competent
authority. It shall come into force as from the day of its publication in the journal for the
protection of plant varieties provided for in Article 59 below.
However, it shall be possible to withdraw from the waiver prior to its publication in the
journal referred to in the previous paragraph.
Where encumbrances or licenses have been entered in the National Register of Plant
Breed Certificates, the withdrawal declaration shall be entertained only if it is accompanied
by the consent of the owners of the rights concerned.
34. At the request of any person with a legitimate interest, the competent court may be
asked to pronounce the invalidation of a plant breed certificate:
— if it has been established that the variety was not new and distinct when the
breeder’s right was granted; or
— if it has been established that the information and documents relating to uniformity
and stability provided by the breeder were not effectively met when the breeder’s right was
granted; or
— if it has been established that the breeder’s right has been granted to a person who
was not entitled to it, unless it is transferred to the person who is so entitled.