FAQs - Plant Variety Rights (Plant Varieties) in Turkey

The authorized governmental Offices are General Directorate of Plant Production (BÜGEM) and Variety Registration and Seed Certification Center (TTSM), both of which are a unit of Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

BÜGEM (Turkish PBR Office) is the Office receiving and prosecuting the applications for plant variety rights (PVR).

TTSM is the technical Office testing the distinctiveness, uniformity and stability (DUS) of the plant varieties and performing other technical procedures.

There are four basic requirements for protection of a variety under PBR, which are:

• Novelty,
• Distinctiveness,
• Uniformity, and
• Stability.

The following documents and information are required when filing the applications for new plant varieties.

• Formal and technical information:
• Turkish and Latin denomination of the variety in the botanical taxon.
• Denomination of the variety or provisional denomination used by the breeder.
• Priority date and the territory if priority is claimed.
• Technical properties of the variety.
• Information and document regarding the prior commercial exploitation if it has taken place.
• Payment receipt of the filing fee,
• Geographical origin of the variety.
• A certified copy of the priority document, if any priority is claimed.
• High-resolution photos of the variety in colour which indicate the characteristics of the plant variety (photos are mandatory for fruits and ornamental plants, while they are optional for field crops and vegetables).
• Power of Attorney notarized and legalized by Apostille where the applicant is not a Turkish citizen.
• Assignment of rights (covering the name and address of the breeder and the indication how the rights were acquired) if the applicant is not the breeder.
• A description of plant variety.
• The document of the first commercial use, i.e. a copy of invoice (signed & stamped, including name & duty of signor) and a declaration for first commercial use (signed & stamped, including name & duty of signor).

Please click here to see and download the application form.

The variety will be novel if the variety is not made available to the public or sold for the purposes of commercial exploitation by the right owner or by anyone with the consent of the right owner:

• within Turkey for more than one year before the date of application;
• outside Turkey for more than four (4) years or, in the case of trees and vines six (6) years, before the date of application.

Applicant should inform the Turkish PBR Office that he/she would like to benefit from the priority right originating from his/her first application.

If the Turkish PBR Office consider it necessary, it can ask the applicant to submit the legalized copies of the application documents of the priority application with their translations as well as samples and evidences proving that the variety which is subject of both applications are the same.

The substantive examination is conducted in respect of the following questions:

• Is the variety novel?
• Is the applicant entitled for application?
• Is the denomination proposed for the variety in compliance with the requirements by the Law?

If the Turkish PBR Office finds that the variety is in good order after examination, the application is put in the Register and an application number is allocated.

If the Turkish PBR Office finds any deficiency in terms of the above questions, the application is refused without any possibility of appealing before the Turkish PBR Office (Note: the refusal decision is subject to judicial check if a court action is taken within 2 months from the refusal decision).

Exceptionally, the Turkish PBR Office ask the applicant to give a new denomination within 30 days from the notification of the refusal if the application is refused on the grounds that the designated denomination does not comply with the requirements of the Law.

If the application is found in good order, an application number is assigned and recorded at the Registry.

The applications are, for the purpose of opposition, published within 30 days as from their being recorded at the Registry after the substantive examination.

The publication period is 3 months for the opposition of third parties

Here is the internet link where the applications for plant varieties are being published: The Bulletins of the Plant Varieties.

If no impediment is found after the substantive examination, the Turkish PBR Office arranges for technical examination.

The technical examination is conducted for:

• confirming that the variety belongs to the designated botanical taxon,
• determining the distinctness, uniformity and stability of the variety,
• preparing the variety description (a document describing the characteristics of the plant variety) if the variety is found distinct, uniform and stable.

The technical examinations can be conducted by

• any main Offices of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, any Offices related to the Ministry or any offices which are not related to the Ministry but appointed by the Ministry (which is usually Variety Registration and Seed Certification Center (TTSM), or
• the applicant if the Ministry considers it appropriate.

The DUS tests, prepared by the examination offices of any country of the UPOV, are required to be submitted along with the application. If the country of the UPOV, which conducted the examination, does not provide the DUS test to the applicant (as known that the UPOV’s common practice is that such reports are only exchangeable between the national authorities upon the payment of a transmittal fee), the Turkish PBR Office can, upon the request of the applicant, communicate with the authorized Office of UPOV country and request the transmittal of the DUS tests.

If the DUS test of the examination office of any country of the UPOV, which is intended to be used for the application in Turkey, are not completed and in the process of being carried out at the time of filing, this is expressly and specifically declared to the Turkish PBR Office and one of the followings are submitted along with the application:

• The duly filled-in technical questionnaire provided by the Turkish PBR Office (please click here to see the list of technical questionnaires for the varities), or
• The technical questionnaire already submitted with the examination office of the country of the UPOV and its sworn translation into Turkish.

Additionally, technical examination fee, which is a relatively reduced fee compared to normal technical examination fees, should be also paid.

The denominations should be made considering the following rules as prescribed by the Regulation:

1. The denomination may consist of a meaningful or meaningless word or group of words, words and numbers, or letters and numbers, provided that it allows the variety to be recognized.
2. The denomination proposed for the variety should be of a different name than the other varieties or the recognition of the variety should be sufficient in terms of linguistics.
3. The denomination should not contain any expressions contrary to public order and general morality.
4. The denomination should not consist of signs indicating the species, quality, quantity, purpose, value, geographical origin or production date in the plant varieties and seed sector not only in the Turkish languages but also in the languages of the contracting countries of the UPOV convention.
5. The denomination should not be misleading or confusing with respect to the relationship between the variety and the breeder or applicant in terms of geographical origin, value or characteristics of the variety.
6. In the proposed denomination of the variety, there should be no elements preventing a trademark from being obtained in respect of the products related to the variety in terms of trademark legislation.
7. If a denomination is used for the variety registered in a country which is a party to the UPOV Convention, applications for breeders' rights should be made under this denomination and the variety is registered under this denomination. Where another denominations are also used the same variety in other countries , those denominations used in other countries are also recorded in the application registry and the registry of the breeders’ rights. The same also applies to previously registered varieties in Turkey.
8. The proposed denomination for the variety cannot be identical or confusingly similar to the denominations of the same and similar varieties which were registered and is used in Turkey or the contracting parties of UPOV Convention.
9. Anyone who sells, markets or otherwise uses the propagation material of the protected variety must use the denomination of the variety. This also includes mainly derived varieties. Even if the breeders’ rights are terminated, the denomination of the variety must be used.
10. Prior rights of third parties with respect to the use of the protected variety are reserved. Because of the previous rights of third parties, if the use of the denomination of the variety is prohibited to the person who has to use this variety, the General Directorate will ask the breeder or the right holder to propose a new denomination for the variety.
11. The use of the denomination proposed for the variety can only be used together with the trade mark, trade name or other similar marks provided that the denomination is written so to be easily identifiable.