PLANT VARIETY PROTECTION No. 82
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guishable from any other variety of the same kind
of plant of which the existence on that date is a
matter of common knowledge;
No. 22 of 1964), shall be deemed to have been designated as Registrar of Plant Breeders’ Rights in terms of
this section.
(c) uniform if, subject to the variation that may be
expected from the particular features of the
propagation thereof, it is sufficiently uniform
with regard to the characteristics of the variety in
question;
(d) stable if the characteristics thereof remain unchanged after repeated propagation or, in the case
of a particular cycle of propagation, at the end of
each such cycle.
(3) If the application of this Act is extended to a kind of
plant to which this Act, or any law repealed by it, did not
previously apply, the registrar may deem a variety of such
a kind of plant which existed at the time of the extension
to be new for the purposes of subsection (2)(a), notwithstanding the fact that propagating material or harvested
material thereof was sold or disposed of prior to the periods of time referred to in that subsection.
(4) If an application, in any country, for the grant of a
plant breeder’s right in respect of, or for the entering in
the official register of varieties of, a variety in fact leads
to the grant of a plant breeder’s right in respect of, or to
the entry in the official register of, that variety in the
country in question, the existence of that variety shall as
from the date of the application, for the purposes of subsection (2)(b), also be deemed to have been a matter of
common knowledge.
Section 4
Register of plant breeders’ rights
(1) The registrar shall keep a register in which the prescribed particulars in respect of plant breeders’ rights
granted in terms of this Act shall be entered.
(2) The register shall, upon payment of the prescribed
fee, be open for inspection at the office of the registrar
during office hours.
(3) The registrar shall furnish, at the request of any person and upon payment of the prescribed fee, a copy of
any particulars in the register or a certificate in respect
thereof.
(4) The register kept in terms of section 4 of the Plant
Breeders’ Rights Act, 1964, (Act No. 22 of 1964) shall
be incorporated in and form part of the register to be kept
under this section, and any document supplied to the
registrar under that Act in terms of any provision thereof,
shall be deemed to have been furnished to the registrar
under the corresponding provision of this Act.
Section 5
Register to be evidence
Section 3
(1) The register shall be prima facie evidence of all matters directed or authorized by the Act to be noted therein.
Designation of registrar
(1) The Minister shall designate an officer in the department as the Registrar of Plant Breeder’s Rights, who
shall be the authority to whom the protection of varieties
is entrusted, and who shall exercise the powers to or imposed upon the registrar under this Act.
(2) The registrar shall exercise his or her powers and
carry out his or her duties subject to any instructions
issued by the Minister.
(3) (a) The registrar may authorize any officer, or with
the approval of the Minister any person who is
not an officer, to exercise or carry out any power
or duty of the registrar.
(b) Any decision made or order given by any such
officer or any such person, may be withdrawn or
amended by the registrar, and shall, until it has
been so withdrawn or amended, be deemed, except for the purposes of this paragraph, to have
been made by the registrar.
(4) The officer designated as registrar in terms of section 3(1) of the Plant Breeders’ Right Act 1964 (Act
Act - page 3
(2) A certificate by the registrar to the effect that an entry
has or has not been made in the register or that any other
thing authorized by this Act to be done, has or has not
been done, shall be prima facie evidence of the matters
specified in that certificate.
(3) A copy of an entry in the register or an extract from
the register, certified by the registrar, shall be admitted in
evidence in any court without further proof or production
of the register.
Section 5A
Entering into of certain agreements by registrar
The registrar may, with the approval of the Minister,
granted with the concurrence of the Minister of Foreign
Affairs and Information and the Minister of Finance,
enter into an agreement with the appropriate authority in
a convention country or an agreement country in terms of
which the registrar may(a) obtain results of tests and trials undertaken by any
such authority with a variety referred to in section 19(2) of this Act, from such authority;
SOUTH AFRICA