In Belarus, rights to a plant variety are protected by the state and certified by a patent for a plant variety.
Plant variety protection in Belarus is available for varieties that meet the statutory protection requirements and pass the required examination procedure.
The procedure involves the National Center of Intellectual Property and, during examination, the State Inspectorate for Testing and Protection of Plant Varieties.
Important: Novelty periods depend on where the variety was previously commercialised: 1 year in Belarus, 4 years in other countries, and 6 years for trees and grapevine.
The application is prepared and filed, and the filing and examination fees are paid.
Preliminary examination usually takes approximately 3 months from receipt of the application.
At this stage, formal requirements are checked, including whether the proposed variety denomination complies with legal requirements.
Information about the application is published approximately 3 months after the decision to accept the application for examination.
Patent examination is conducted by the National Center of Intellectual Property with involvement of the State Inspectorate for Testing and Protection of Plant Varieties.
During this examination, novelty and other protection requirements are assessed.
After a positive decision, the registration and patent issuance fee is paid.
The plant variety is entered into the State Register, information about the patent is published, and the patent is issued.
The following information and documents are generally required for filing:
A power of attorney does not require notarisation if it is signed by the head of the company.
If signed by another person, confirmation of authority or notarisation with indication of powers may be required.
Important: For electronic filing, a copy of the power of attorney may be submitted within 2 months. The original is provided only if requested by the office.
The term of legal protection is 25 years from the date of registration of the plant variety in the State Register.
The patent must be maintained annually by payment of the relevant maintenance fee.
We assess filing readiness, novelty risks and procedural requirements.
We assist with preparing the application package and supporting materials.
We handle interaction with the National Center of Intellectual Property.
We support the application during preliminary and patent examination stages.
We assist with registration, publication and patent issuance steps.
We help monitor annual maintenance obligations after grant.