53. Volume 13- Number 1 - IP Australia

PLANT VARIETIES JOURNAL 2000 VOL 13 NO. 1
Important Changes
AMENDMENTS TO THE PBR ACT
Temporary amnesty for applicants caught in the
change from 6 to 4 years of prior sale
When the PBR Act was introduced it replaced the
previous Plant Variety Rights Act 1987 and in doing so
reduced the allowable period of prior sale for many new
plant varieties from 6 years to 4 years. Following
introduction of the current Act many applicants applied
only to find that their allowable period for prior sale had
expired up to two years earlier. To rectify this anomaly
an amendment to the PBR Act has been passed and
received royal assent on 10th December 1999. The new
transitional arrangement will allow affected applicants
the opportunity to have their applications reinstated. To
take advantage of this transitional arrangement an
application for a new variety must have been lodged and
subsequently rejected only because it was first sold
overseas between 10th November 1988 and 9th
November 1990. To ensure efficient operation, any
claims under this provision must be lodged within 6
months of its commencement (i.e. before 10th June
2000).
Any person who believes that their variety may meet
these temporary provisions can, if they wish, contact the
PBR Office to discuss whether their variety is likely to
be eligible.
Other Amendments
In addition to the above, 11 other amendments to the
PBR Act were also passed. Most are fairly minor and
aimed at improving the efficiency of the PBR office. The
changes will probably be of little consequence for most
applicants and QP’s. Further information regarding the
likely effect and operation of these amendments can be
obtained by contacting the PBR office.
• The time limit in which to advise the PBR office of
any change in assignment of rights has been
extended from 7 days to within 30 days. Likewise
the PBR office now has 30 days in which to notify
all parties of a change in assignment.
• Before an objection, request for revocation or claim
of essential derivation can be accepted by the PBR
office it must be accompanied by the prescribed fee.
• Who bears the cost of a test growing in dealing with
a request for revocation of a PBR has changed. If
revocation action is successful, the grantee bears the
cost otherwise costs are borne by the objector.
• The PBR office can now recover full costs of
undertaking a test growing of a variety on behalf of
another UPOV country where no application is
lodged in Australia.
• It is no longer a requirement for the PBR office to
maintain a copy of the Register of Plant Varieties in
each State and Territory.
The remaining changes are very minor and correct or
clarify existing provisions. That a variety is ineligible for
protection if it has been sold for more than one year in
Australia or 4 to 6 years overseas has been clarified to
avoid misinterpretation. An error in the placement of
‘initial variety’ in subsection 50(5) has been corrected. It
has also been clarified that, if not already specified in the
Act, the time, circumstances and manner in which
prescribed fees are paid may be specified in the
regulations.
NEW APPLICATION NUMBERING SYSTEM
In December 1999, due to the anticipated Y2K problems,
the PBR office replaced its aging MSDOS database with a
modern and compliant, Microsoft access database. One of
the consequences of this change was the need to slightly
modify the application numbering system. Instead of a 2
digit prefix to denote the year there is now a 4 digit prefix
(eg application 00/001 becomes 2000/001). The new
format ensures correct sorting of applications.
CHANGE IN THE LISTING OF VARIETIES: FROM
COMMON NAME TO BOTANICAL NAME
Starting from the current issue the varieties included in the
Plant Varieties Journal will be alphabetically listed by their
botanical names. The common name(s) and varietal name
will follow the botanical names. An index for common
names to botanical names is published in Appendix 9 for
cross references.
PBR FEES WILL BE GST FREE
The Treasurer has determined that all statutory fees under
PBR regulation will be exempted from GST.
HERBARIUM SPECIMENS
It is a requirement of the PBR Act that, for all native
species, a suitable specimen be sent to the Australian
Cultivar Registration Authority (ACRA). The processing of
these specimens attracts a fee from the ACRA (currently
$50). Payment of the fee should be sent directly to the
ACRA along with the specimen and a completed Herb1
form. This form has recently been updated. The current
form Herb 1(03/00) has three components: “Submission of
Specimen of Australian Native Variety to the ACRA”,
“ACRA Herbarium Specimen” and “Confirmation of
Submission of Specimen to the ACRA”. Please use the
current version of the Herb 1form for any future submission
to the ACRA.
CURRENT PBR FORMS
The official forms for PBR purposes are periodically
updated. A list of current PBR forms with their numbers and
date of last update is given below. When a form is updated,
the month and the year of the last update follow the form
number within parentheses. For example, Form P1 was last
updated in September 1998 and therefore this form gets a
designation of Form P1 (9/98). We also encourage you to
consult the ‘Guidelines for Completing Part 1 Application
Form’ before filing in the Part 1 Application. To avoid
delays we suggest that you use the latest version of the
forms.
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