Notice N°2/2000 of the Community Plant Variety Office
Acceptance by the Office of non-original documents
In accordance with Article 57(3) of Commission Regulation (EC) N° 1239/95 and with effect from 1st May 2000, the CPVO will accept the following categories of documents by fax or e-mail:
(a) an objection to the grant of a Community Plant Variety Right,
(b) a notice of appeal against a decision of the Office,
(c) a written statement setting out grounds of appeal,
(d) a document sent in support of an application for a Community Plant Variety Right already submitted, including a proposal for a variety denomination (nb: not an application form itself),
(e) a document sent in response to a letter from the Office setting a deadline for reply,
(f) a declaration of surrender of a Community Plant Variety Right,
subject to the following rules
1. By way of derogation from the general rule that (except for an annexed document) only a document which is signed by a party to proceedings or by his procedural representative (that is to say an “original” document) may be accepted by the Office, the documents listed above may be sent by fax or e-mail subject to the conditions laid down in this notice.
2. A document submitted in accordance with paragraph 1 shall be deemed not to have bee received if the original version thereof, signed by the party to proceedings or his procedural representative, is not supplied within one month of the receipt by the Offcie of the fax or e-mail.
3. A document submitted in accordance with paragraph 1 must be submitted directly to the Office, rather than a national agency or sub-office.
4. Subject to paragraph 2:
(i) a document received by fax shall be deemed received by the Office on the date stamped on the document by the Office in the course of the registration of incoming mail;
(ii) a document received by e-mail shall be deemed received by the Office at the time and date indicated by computer at cpvo [at] cpvo.europa.eu (cpvo[at]cpvo[dot]europa[dot]eu). The arrival of a document on any other personal computer shall not constitute receipt for the purposes of this decision.