Article 22
Issue of Plant Variety Certificate and Publication
(1) Where the Organization determines, as a result of the technical examination of the
variety, that the variety satisfies the conditions set forth in Article 4 and that the applicant has
met the other conditions set forth in this Annex, it shall issue a plant variety certificate.
(2) The Organization:
(a) shall publish a notice of issue of a plant variety certificate;
(b) shall issue to the applicant a plant variety certificate containing a description of the
variety;
(c) shall register the said certificate, and
(d) shall make copies of the variety description available to the public against payment
of the prescribed fee.
TITLE IV
VARIETY DENOMINATION
Article 23
Subject of the Denomination and Signs Admissible as a Denomination
(1) The denomination shall constitute the generic designation of the variety.
(2) A denomination may consist of any word, combination of words and figures and
combination of letters and figures, with or without an existing meaning, provided that such
signs serve to identify the variety.
(3) Where a denomination has already been used for the variety in a member State or in
a Contracting Party of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of
Plants, or proposed or registered in a member State or a Contracting Party, only that
denomination may be used for the purposes of the procedure before the Organization, unless
there is a ground for refusal under Article 24. Any synonyms shall be recorded in the register
of applications and in the register of grants.
(4)(a) For as long as the variety is exploited, it shall be prohibited to use, on the
territory of the member States, a designation that is identical or confusingly similar to the
denomination of that variety in relation to another variety of the same or a closely related
species. The prohibition shall remain in force after the variety has ceased to be exploited
where the denomination has acquired particular significance in relation to the variety.
(b) The above prohibition shall also apply to denominations registered in the
Contracting Parties of the International Convention for the Protection of New Variety of
Plants.
(5) Any person who offers for sale, sells or otherwise markets reproductive or
vegetative propagating material of a protected variety shall be required to use the
denomination of that variety. This obligation shall also apply to the varieties referred to in
Article 29(4).
(6) The obligation to use a denomination shall not end with the plant variety certificate
that gave rise to it.
(7) Prior rights of third parties shall not be affected.