Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1448 of 1 September 2016 amending Regulation (EC) No 874/2009 establishing implementing rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 as regards proceedings before the Community Plant Variety Office

‘1 Parties to proceedings shall be designated by their name, address and email address, where an email address is used by the party concerned.

2 Natural persons shall be indicated by their family name and given names. Legal persons as well as companies or firms shall be indicated by their official designations, as recorded in the respective Member State or third country.’

‘2 Should the taking of evidence referred to in paragraph 1 be allowed at the request of a party to proceedings, then, should a party to proceedings, a witness or expert be unable to express himself adequately in any of the official languages of the European Union, he may be heard only if the party who made the request makes provision for interpretation into the official language of the European Union used by all parties to proceedings or by the members of the staff of the Office. Parties to the proceedings, a witness or expert, and the members of the staff of the Office or the Board of Appeal may agree that during the oral proceedings only one of the official languages of the European Union shall be used. The Office may allow derogations from the first subparagraph.’

‘1 Where a party to proceedings files a document in a language other than any official language of the European Union, the Office may require from that party a translation of that document into one of the official languages of the European Union used by that party or by the members of the staff of the Office or of the Board of Appeal.

2 Where a translation of a document is filed by a party to proceedings, the Office may require the filing, within such time as it may specify, of a certificate that the translation corresponds to the original text. The translations of lengthy documents may be confined to extracts or summaries. The Office or the Board of Appeal may however, either at their own motion or at the request of a party to the proceeding, at any time require a more extensive or complete translation of such documents. Parties to proceedings and the members of the staff of the Office or of the Board of Appeal may agree to have a translation of a document in only one of the official languages of the European Union.’

‘3 A legally qualified member shall be a graduate in law with recognised experience in the field of intellectual property, plant variety rights or plant variety registration.’

Members of the staff of the Office may use, free of charge, the premises of national agencies referred to in Article 30(4) of the basic Regulation and those of Examination Offices and agencies referred to in Article 13 and Article 14, respectively, of this Regulation, for holding periodical consultation days with parties to proceedings and third persons.’

1 If several appeals are filed against a decision, those appeals may be considered in the same proceedings.

2 If appeals filed against decisions are to be examined by the Board having the same composition, that Board may deal with those appeals in joint proceedings.’

1 Proceedings on nullity and cancellations as referred to in Articles 20 and 21, respectively, of the basic Regulation may be opened by the Office when there are serious doubts as regards the validity of the title. Such proceedings may be initiated by the Office on its own motion or upon request.

2 A request to the Office to open the proceedings on nullity or cancellation, as referred to in Articles 20 and 21, respectively, of the basic Regulation, shall be accompanied by evidence and facts raising serious doubts as to the validity of the title and shall contain: (a) as regards the registration in respect of which nullity or cancellation is sought: (i) the registration number of the Community plant variety right; (ii) the name and address of the holder of the Community plant variety right; (b) as regards the grounds on which the request is based: (i) a statement of the grounds on which the request to open the proceedings on nullity or cancellation is based; (ii) an indication of the facts, evidence and arguments presented in support of those grounds; (c) the name and address of the person making the request and, where he has appointed a procedural representative, the name and address of that representative.

3 Any decision of the Office to reject a request as referred to in paragraph 2 shall be communicated to the person who made the request and the holder of the Community plant variety right.

4 The Office shall not take into account written submissions or documents, or parts thereof, that have not been submitted within the time limit set by the Office.

5 Any decision of the Office to declare null and void or cancel a Community plant variety right shall be published in the Official Gazette referred to in Article 87.’

1 Service by electronic means shall be made by transmitting a digital copy of the document to be notified. Service shall be deemed to have taken place on the date on which the communication was received by the recipient. The President of the Office shall determine the details of service by electronic means.

2 Where service is made by electronic means, a party to proceedings, including his procedural representative, shall provide an electronic address to the Office for all official communication.

3 The President of the Office shall determine the details of service by other technical means of communication.’

1 Where a procedural representative has been appointed, or where the applicant first named in a joint application pursuant to Article 73(5) is considered to be the procedural representative, notifications shall be addressed to the procedural representative.

2 Where several procedural representatives have been appointed for a single party, notification to any one of those representatives shall be sufficient, unless a specific address for service has been indicated.

3 Where several parties have appointed a common procedural representative, notification of the relevant documents to that representative shall be sufficient.’

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.