Protection of plant variety in Indonesia is prosecuted under Laws of Republic of Indonesia No. 29 of 2000 on Plant Variety Protection.
Following the Laws, two regulations were subsequently launched, namely Government Regulation No. 14 of 2004 regarding the Requirements and Procedure of the Transfer of Protection of Plant Variety and the Use of Variety Protected by the Government, and Government Regulation No. 13 of 2004 regarding the Naming, Registration and Use of Original Variety for the Making of Essential Derivative Variety.
By definition, PVP is a specific protection, provided by the country, in this case represented by the Government and implemented by the Plant Variety Protection Office towards the variety of crops and plants produced by plant breeders through agricultural activities.
PVP Rights are specific rights given by the country to plant breeders and/or Plant Variety Protection rights holder to exercise his given rights or give his consent to any parties or corporate bodies to use it for a specified period of time.
Plant varieties refer to a group of crops/plants from one type or species that is denoted by its shape, growth, leaves, flowers, fruits, seed and its genetic characteristics or genetic combination that can be differentiated from similar types or species by at least one determining attribute and when reproduced do not experience any change.
Required Formality Documents
Like in Patent, an original wet signed special Power of Attorney is required by foreign applicant, but no necessary for notarization or legalization by Indonesian Embassy. In case the application is submitted by an heir, then a sufficient proof of ownership of the plant variety should be included at the time of filing.
A PVP rights application must be submitted to the PVP office in writing in the Indonesian language (Bahasa) with the payment of specific costs as determined by the Minister of Agriculture.
It is important to mention denomination of the variety; full description of the variety, including the genealogy traits, morphology characteristics, and other important features; picture and/or photo of the features mentioned in the description to clearly illustrate the description.
In the case of a transgenic variety, the description shall include details of the variety’s molecular description and genetic stability of the proposed traits, the reproductive system of the original parent, existence of its wild relatives, compound content that can affect the environment and human health and the destruction methods in the event of any deviations; together with a declaration on the safety for human health and the environment from an authorized agency.
Provisional Protection Obtained after Passing Formality Stage
After being filed and considered complete, the PVP Office will issue the filing date, to be followed by formality examination, during which the Office will verify the submitted documents for its validity.
The formality stage takes 6 months. If goes smoothly, the PVP Office will grant provisional protection for the variety and put the application into publication stage.
The publication will take another six-months. Deadline to file request for substantive exam is one month from the end of the publication stage.
After filing the request and pay the examination fee, we must communicate with the substantive section of the PVP Office regarding field examination matters, followed by further payment of field examination fees.
Propagation seeds or material may be submitted after settlement on the field examination matters as well as payment of the fees. The next process will largely depend on the type of plant and seasons, which requires any adjustments according to its respective characteristics.
Inspection by PVP Examiners/Officers to the NDUS (New, Distinct, Uniform, Stable) testing in the field will be made within 3 to 5 visits, at least during the planting of the pre-germinated seedlings, at the development of fruit, and at harvesting.
Decision (either acceptance or refusal) will be resulted by PVP Office in 24 months as of the filing of request for substantive examination.
(For further information and cost estimate, please write to Kusno Hadi Kuncoro at: des@bataviapatent.com)