(e) “Competent Office” means the governmental services determined by regulation
for the application of this Law and its implementing regulations.
CHAPTER II
CONDITIONS OF PROTECTION
Article 3
The grant of the breeder’s right shall not be subject to any conditions other than those
laid down in Article 5 of this Law, provided that the variety is designated by a denomination
in accordance with the provisions of Article 14 below, that the applicant complies with the
formalities provided for by this Law and its implementing regulation and that he pays the fees
referred to in Article 60 below.
Article 4
Only those varieties shall be protected that belong to the genera and species included in
the list drawn up by the Office which shall state for each genus or species those elements
covered by the breeder’s right.
Article 5
A breeder’s right shall be granted if following the prior examination referred to in
Article 50 below, the variety is recognized to be new, distinct, uniform and stable.
Article 6
The variety shall be deemed to be new if, at the date of filing of the application for a
breeder’s right, propagating or harvested material or a transformed product of the variety has
not been sold or otherwise disposed of to others, by or with the consent of the breeder, for the
purposes of exploitation of the variety for more than one year in Morocco or for more than
four years or, in the case of trees and vines, for more than six years abroad.
Article 7
The variety shall be deemed to be distinct if it is clearly distinguishable from any other
variety whose existence is a matter of common knowledge at the time of the filing of the
application.
In particular, any other variety shall be deemed a matter of common knowledge if there
exists for that variety in any other country an application for protection, provided that such
application leads to the granting of a breeder’s right, or an entry in an official variety register,
as of the date of the application or of the entry, as the case may be. A variety may also be
deemed a matter of common knowledge by reference to various factors such as cultivation or
marketing already in progress, inclusion in a reference collection, or precise description in a
publication.