CIOPORA Chronicle 2015

IP in the World
The Mexican
Federal Law for
Plant Varieties
(1996), which
establishes
the national
regime of Plant
Breeder’s Rights
(PBR), is a
result of a long
analysis and
consultation
process which
had been
initiated in 1992.
by Enriqueta
Molina Macías
Plant Variety Protection
System in Mexico
The Law corresponds to the
standards of the 1978 Act of
UPOV, which Mexico acceded
to in 1997. It currently provides
the 18-year protection term for
vines, perennial and semi-perennial
species and a 15-year term for other
species and guarantees the protection
for all genera and species of
plants. The Ministry of Agriculture
through SNICS is in charge of the
national PBR application process.
Procedure
In order to register a PBR, the application
in the official format along
with a technical report, fee payment
receipt and an accreditation of the
legal representative should be filed
to SNICS. The technical report
should be completed in accordance
with the UPOV Test Guidelines, except
for some crops with a national
protocol due to their diversity. In
response to the national programs
and commercial potential of new
species, Mexico has developed national
guidelines, e.g. for Jatropha 1 ;
In absence of a crop guideline for
the candidate variety, the applicant
should describe the characteristics
following the UPOV TG/1/3 2 . The
national reference for this process is
included in regulation NOM-001-
SAG/FITO-2013 3 . All documents
should be submitted in Spanish
or accompanied by their official
translation. Upon filing, SNICS
analyzes the application and carries
out the denomination check via the
UPOV database and the National
list of Plant Varieties (CNVV).
After a preliminary exam of novelty
and the denomination, SNICS
authorizes the issue of the provisional
title. This procedure takes
approximately 120 days to complete
(usually 30 days or less).
Pictured left to right are Aquiles Carballo Carballo, Dr. José Luís
Figuerosa Velasco, Ing. Enriqueta Molina Macías and Peter Button.
Rose grower in Mexico.
Further review
The further review is performed by
the Committee of Plant Varieties
(CCVV), whose objective is to
verify the fulfillment of novelty and
DUS requirements by the plant
variety. The proposed denomination
is also reviewed and approved.
The Committee is assisted by the
Technical Support Groups (TSG)
on each genera and species. These
groups facilitate the analysis of
technical, morphological, physiological,
biochemical, molecular
and statistical aspects. TSGs are
the heart of the System. Founded
in 1995 during the preparatory
stage to the Law promulgation,
they consist of representatives of
governmental and non-governmental
bodies, as well as universities,
research centers, producer and
grower associations. The TSGs specialize
in agricultural, ornamentals
and forest, vegetable, fruit crops, as
well as in molecular and statistical
techniques. They have enabled
the creation and strengthening of
national capacities in plant variety
description and DUS testing.
36 www.FloraCulture.eu | CIOPORA Chronicle June 2015