– Law on Protection of Plant Varieties, published in the Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 48/2007, in force since August 17, 2007, with amendments published in the Official Gazette No. 48/2008 of August 11, 2008.

– International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), 1991 Act, since September 24, 2015.
– International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, since October 19, 2010.
– FAO International Plant Protection Convention, since July 27, 2009.

Applicant: individuals or legal entities.

Foreigners and nationals not living in the country: must appoint a local attorney.

Protection of foreigners: they enjoy the same rights as nationals.

Conditions of protection: a variety shall be protected provided that it is new, distinct, uniform, stable, and designated by an appropriate denomination.

New variety: a variety shall be considered new if, at the filing date, the propagating or harvested material of the variety has not been sold or otherwise disposed of to others, by or with the consent of the breeder, for the purpose of exploitation in Montenegro for a period longer than one year, or in a territory other than Montenegro for a period longer than four years or, in the case of trees and vines, longer than six years from the said date. It shall also be considered new in cases when it is disposed of to others in one of the following ways: (1) by a contract on the transfer of the breeder’s right; (2) by a contract on the basis of which the propagating material of the variety is multiplied on behalf of the holder of the breeder’s right, provided that the propagating material multiplied is returned to the holder of the breeder’s right and that the propagating material multiplied is not used for production of another variety; (3) by a contract on the basis of which researches are made in the experimental field and in laboratories, for the purpose of variety evaluation.

Other requirements: clearly distinctive from any other known varieties, sufficiently homogeneous in its relevant characteristics and stable after repeated propagation or, in the case of a particular cycle of propagation, at the end of each such cycle.

Variety denomination: the designation shall enable the variety to be identified. It may not consist solely of figures unless this is an established practice for designating specific varieties. It may not mislead or cause confusion concerning the characteristics, value or identity of the variety or the identity of the breeder. A variety denomination shall be different from any other denomination used on the territory of UPOV members for designation of existing variety of the same plant species or a closely related species. Where a variety denomination has already been used in Montenegro or some other country or where an application is filed or the denomination already registered in Montenegro or some other country, only the variety denomination which has been proposed may be used in the protection procedure before the competent authority. Where a variety denomination proposed is inappropriate for use in Montenegro, the breeder shall propose another denomination which, if it is appropriate, shall be registered in the Register of Applications and the Register of Protected Varieties.

Priority: may be claimed, based upon the first application filed in another UPOV member country for a period of twelve months from the day of filing the application.

Filing requirements for an application (to be sent to resident agent):
1. Plant species (Montenegrin and Latin name);
2. Name of the variety;
3. Synonymous of variety (if registered in UPOV member States under another name);
4. State and year when variety has been recognized;
5. State and year of protection of the variety, if the variety is protected;
6. Information concerning genetically modified variety;
7. Evidence that the variety is recognized by the competent authorities of members of UPOV or CPVO;
8. Completed technical questionnaire according to the UPOV descriptor for the plant species to which the variety belongs or CPVO technical questionnaire;
9. Evidence of ownership or evidence of authorization for the maintainer or an authorized representative;
10. Proof of the DUS test results;
11. Power of attorney, simply signed; no notarization or legalization is required (can be filed subsequently).

Examination: formal; as to completeness and formal requirements.

Variety examination: Montenegro has no capacity to test the varieties (DUS tests), so these testings are done by other members of UPOV with which a contract is concluded. If the variety has been tested and DUS and VCU testing has been done, retesting is not required.

Registration: based on examination results, the competent authority shall issue a decision on protection of the variety and it shall be entered in the Register of Protected Varieties.

Publication: the information on the variety protection, including the denomination and information on the breeder, the holder of the right and their domicile or corporate domicile, as the case may be, shall be published in the ”Official Journal of Montenegro”, within a period of thirty days from the date of entry in the Register of Protected Varieties.

Appeal: possible. Any interested person who alleges that the applicant is not entitled to the breeder’s right or that he does not have the right of priority or that conditions for protection under the Law have not been complied with, may lodge an appeal to the Ministry with respect to the entry of the application into the Register of Application or to the entry of the variety into the Register of Protected Varieties within a period of sixty days from the day of publicizing the information on the entry.

Beginning of protection: from the day of the grant of the breeder’s right.

Duration: twenty-five years, and in the case of trees and vines, thirty-five years from the granting date of the breeder’s right.

Owner’s rights: the holder of the breeder’s rights shall be entitled to indication of his name and the denomination in acts, registers, documents and publications. The following acts in respect of the propagating material of a protected variety shall require the authorization of the breeder: production or reproduction (multiplication) of the variety protected; conditioning for the purpose of propagation of the protected variety; offering the protected variety for sale; selling or other marketing of the protected variety; exporting or importing of the protected variety; stocking for any of the purposes before-mentioned.

Obligations: the holder of the breeder’s right has to ensure maintenance of the protected variety unchanged during the period of protection.

Annuities: are due, however, no additional information can be provided since the appropriate Decree has not yet been adopted.

Assignment: the holder of the breeder’s right may transfer his right to a protected variety. The transfer of right shall be made by a written contract, which shall include provisions on the following: the scope of right, the period of time for which the right is transferred and the fee for use of the right, if any, and it has to be registered to take effect vis-à-vis third parties.

License: provided for. Granting of the license shall be made by a written contract, which shall include provisions on the following: the scope of right, the period of time for which the right is transferred and the fee for use of the right, if any, and it has to be registered to take effect vis-à-vis third parties.

Cancellation: the competent authority shall cancel the decision on protection of the variety if it is established that the variety is no longer uniform or stable; the holder of the breeder’s right fails to furnish the competent authority with information, documents or material deemed necessary for verification of the variety maintenance; the holder of the breeder’s right fails to propose another denomination for the variety if the variety denomination has been cancelled after the grant of the right; the breeder fails to pay the fee for maintenance of the breeder’s right; the annual costs of variety protection have not been paid on the due date; the right holder informs the competent authority in writing that he wants to terminate the breeder’s right; the holder of the breeder’s right dies or ceases to exist without a heir or successor in rights, on the date of death or cessation.

Nullification: a granting decision can be annulled if it is established that the variety was neither new nor distinct at the time of grant; it is established that the decision on granting the breeder’s right has been essentially based upon information and documents furnished by the applicant, while conditions of stability and uniformity were not complied with at the time of grant; the breeder’s right has been granted to a person who is not entitled to it, except in the case where, in the meantime, it has been transferred to the person who is so entitled.

Compulsory licenses: can be imposed if the holder of the breeder’s right refuses to transfer his right of economic use of the variety protected to other persons, or when he sets unjustified conditions for such transfer, provided that the use is of public interest for development of plant production, for protection and development of the environment or for a specific economic branch. The compulsory license shall be granted only to the interested person who proves its capability and capacity required for the economic use of the protected plant variety. The request for grant of the compulsory license may not be filed earlier than four years from the date of filing the application, or three years from the date of grant of the breeder’s right, whichever expires later. The compulsory license shall not be granted if the holder of the breeder’s right proves that there are reasons justifying his refusal to grant the authorization for use of the protected variety or conditions for such a use.

Infringement – penalties: the holder of the breeder’s right or his successor in rights or heir, as the case may be, shall be entitled to file a civil action against the person infringing his right and shall have the right to claim the ascertaining of infringement of the breeder’s right; prohibition of actions infringing the breeder’s right; compensation for damages caused by infringement, including direct damages, lost profits and justifiable legal costs and expenses; publication of the court decision at the expense of the defendant; forfeiture or destruction, without compensation of any sort, of the items and equipment predominantly used for infringement of the breeder’s right; forfeiture or destruction, without compensation of any sort, of infringing products. The action may be filed within a period of three years from the date of obtaining information of the infringement and the offender, but not later than five years from the date on which the infringement has been committed.