Law

Council Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 of 27 July 1994 on Community plant variety rights

European Union · regulation

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In force since 2008-01-31, as the publisher states.

Copy read on 2026-11-08. The page it was read from

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Contents: 119 provisions

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119 provisions

Article 40 Place of meetings

The Administrative Council shall meet at the seat of the Commission, or at the location of the Office or of an Examination Office. The details shall be determined in the rules of procedure.

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Article 41 Voting

1. The Administrative Council shall take its decisions, other than those referred to in paragraph 2, by a simple majority of the representatives of the Member States. 2. The majority of three quarters of the representatives of the Member States shall be required for the decisions which the Administrative Council is empowered to take under Articles 12 (1) (b), 29, 36 (1) (a), (b), (d) and (e), 43, 47, 109 (3) and 112. 3. Each Member State shall have one vote. 4. The decisions of the Administrative Council shall have no binding force within the meaning of Article 189 of the Treaty.

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Article 42 Functions and powers of the President

1. The Office shall be managed by the President. 2. To this end, the President shall have, in particular, the following functions and powers: (a) The President shall take all necessary steps, including the adoption of internal administrative instructions and the publications of notices, to ensure the functioning of the Office in accordance with the provisions of this Regulation, with those referred to in Articles 113 and 114, or with the rules established, or guidelines issued, by the Administrative Council pursuant to Article 36 (1). (b) He shall submit a management report to the Commission and Administrative Council each year. (c) He shall exercise in respect of the staff the powers laid down in Article 31 (2). (d) He shall submit proposals as referred to in Article 36 (1) (c) and 47 (2). (e) He shall draw up estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the Office pursuant to Article 109 (1), and shall implement the budget pursuant to Article 110. (f) He shall supply information as required by the Administrative Council pursuant to Article 36 (2), first indent. (g) He may place before the Administrative Council draft amendments to this Regulation, to the provisions referred to in Articles 113 and 114 or to any other rules relating to Community plant variety rights. (h) He may delegate his powers to other members of the Office's staff, and subject to the provisions referred to in Articles 113 and 114. 3. The President shall be assisted by one or more Vice-Presidents. If the President is absent or indisposed, the Vice-President or one of the Vice-Presidents shall take his place in accordance with the procedure laid down in the rules established, or the guidelines issued, by the Administrative Council pursuant to Article 36 (1).

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Article 43 Appointment of senior officials

1. The President of the Office shall be appointed by the Council from a list of candidates which shall be proposed by the Commission after obtaining the opinion of the Administrative Council. Power to dismiss the President shall lie with the Council, acting on a proposal from the Commission after obtaining the opinion of the Administrative Council. 2. The term of office of the President shall not exceed five years. This term of office shall be renewable. 3. The Vice-President or Vice-Presidents of the Office shall be appointed or dismissed as in paragraphs 1 and 2, after consultation of the President. 4. The Council shall exercise disciplinary authority over the officials referred to in paragraphs 1 and 3.

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Article 44 Control of legality

1. The Commission shall control the legality of those acts of the President in respect of which Community law does not provide for any control on legality by another body, and of the acts of the Administrative Council relating to the Office's budget. 2. The Commission shall require that any unlawful act referred to in paragraph 1 be altered or annulled. 3. Member States, any member of the Administrative Council or any other persons directly and personally involved may refer to the Commission any act referred to in paragraph 1, whether express or implied, to examine the legality of that act. Referral shall be made to the Commission within two months of the day on which the party concerned became aware of the act in question. The Commission shall take and communicate a decision within two months.

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Article 45 Establishment and powers

1. There shall be established within the Office one or more Boards of Appeal. 2. The Board or Boards of Appeal shall be responsible for deciding on appeals from the decisions referred to in Article 67. 3. The Board or Boards of Appeal shall be convened as necessary. The number of Boards of Appeal and the work allocation shall be determined in the implementing rules pursuant to Article 114.

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Article 46 Composition of the Boards of Appeal

1. A Board of Appeal shall consist of a Chairman and two other members. 2. The Chairman shall select for each case the other members and their respective alternates from the list of qualified members established pursuant to Article 47 (2). 3. Where the Board of Appeal considers that the nature of the appeal so requires, it may call up to two further members from the aforesaid list for that case. 4. The qualifications required for the members of each Board of Appeal, the powers of individual members in the preparatory phase of the decisions and the voting conditions shall be determined in the implementing rules pursuant to Article 114.

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Article 47 Independence of the members of the Boards of Appeal

1. The Chairmen of the Boards of Appeal and their respective alternates shall be appointed by the Council from a list of candidates for each chairman and each alternate which shall be proposed by the Commission after obtaining the opinion of the Administrative Council. The term of office shall be five years. It shall be renewable. 2. The other members of the Boards of Appeal shall be those selected pursuant to Article 46 (2), from a list of qualified members established on a proposal from the Office, for a term of five years, by the Administrative Council. The list shall be established for a term of five years. This shall be renewable for whole or part of the list. 3. The members of the Board of Appeal shall be independent. In making their decisions they shall not be bound by any instructions. 4. The members of the Boards of Appeal may not be members of the Committees referred to in Article 35 nor perform any other duties in the Office. The function of the members of the Boards of Appeal may be a part-time function. 5. The members of the Boards of Appeal may not be removed from office nor from the list respectively, during the respective term, unless there are serious grounds for such removal and the Court of Justice of the European Communities, on application by the Commission after obtaining the opinion of the Administrative Council takes a decision to this effect.

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Article 48 Exclusion and objection

1. Members of the Boards of Appeal may not take part in any appeal proceedings if they have any personal interest therein, or if they have previously been involved as representatives of one of the parties to proceedings, or if they participated in the decision under appeal. 2. If, for one of the reasons mentioned in paragraph 1 or for any other reason, a member of a Board of Appeal considers that he should not take part in any appeal proceedings, he shall inform the Board of Appeal accordingly. 3. Members of the Boards of Appeal may be objected to by any party to the appeal proceedings for one of the reasons mentioned in paragraph 1, or if suspected of partiality. An objection shall not be admissible if, while being aware of a reason for objecting, the party to the appeal proceedings has taken a procedural step. No objection may be based on the nationality of members. 4. The Boards of Appeal shall decide as to the action to be taken in the cases specified in paragraphs 2 and 3 without the participation of the member concerned. For the purposes of taking this decision, the member who withdraws or has been objected to shall be replaced in the Board of Appeal by his alternate.

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Article 49 Filing of applications

1. An application for a Community plant variety right shall be filed at the choice of the applicant: (a) at the Office directly; or (b) at one of the sub-offices or national agencies, established or entrusted, pursuant to Article 30 (4), subject to the applicant forwarding an information on this filing to the Office directly within two weeks after filing. Details on the manner in which the information referred to in (b) above must be forwarded, may be laid down in the implementing rules pursuant to Article 114. The omission of forwarding information on an application to the Office pursuant to (b) above, does not affect the validity of the application if the application has reached the Office within one month after filing at the sub-office or national agency. 2. Where the application is filed at one of the national agencies referred to in paragraph 1 (b), the national agency shall take all steps to forward the application to the Office within two weeks after filing. National agencies may charge the applicant a fee which shall not exceed the administrative costs of receiving and forwarding the application.

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Article 50 Conditions governing applications

1. The application for a Community plant variety right must contain at least the following: (a) a request for the grant of a Community plant variety right; (b) identification of the botanical taxon; (c) information identifying the applicant or, where appropriate, the joint applicants; (d) the name of the breeder and an assurance that, to the best of the applicants knowledge, no further persons have been involved in the breeding, or discovery and development, of the variety; if the applicant is not the breeder, or not the only breeder, he shall provide the relevant documentary evidence as to how the entitlement to the Community plant variety right came into his possession; (e) a provisional designation for the variety; (f) a technical description of the variety; (g) the geographic origin of the variety; (h) the credentials of any procedural representative; (i) details of any previous commercialization of the variety; (j) details of any other application made in respect of the variety. 2. Details of the conditions referred to in paragraph 1, including the provision of further information, may be laid down in the implementing rules pursuant to Article 114. 3. An application shall propose a variety denomination which may accompany the application.

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Article 51 Date of application

The date of application for a Community plant variety right shall be the date on which a valid application was received by the Office pursuant to Article 49 (1) (a) or by a sub-office or national agency pursuant to Article 49 (1) (b), provided it complies with Article 50 (1) and subject to payment of the fees due pursuant to Article 83 within a time limit specified by the Office.

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Article 52 The right of priority

1. The right of priority of an application shall be determined by the date of receipt of the application. Where applications have the same date of application, the priorities thereof shall be determined according to the order in which they were received, if this can be established. Otherwise they shall have the same priority. 2. If the applicant or his predecessor in title has already applied for a property right for the variety in a Member State or in a Member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, and the date of application is within 12 months of the filing of the earlier application, the applicant shall enjoy a right of priority for the earlier application as regards the application for the Community plant variety right, provided the earlier application still exists on the date of application. 3. The right of priority shall have the effect that the date on which the earlier application was filed shall count as the date of application for the Community plant variety right for the purposes of Articles 7, 10 and 11. 4. Paragraphs 2 and 3 shall also apply in respect of earlier applications that were filed in another State. 5. Any claim for a right of priority earlier than that provided for in paragraph 2 shall lapse if the applicant does not submit to the Office within three months of the date of application copies of the earlier application that have been certified by the authorities responsible for such application. If the earlier application has not been made in one of the official languages of the European Communities, the Office may require, in addition, a translation of the earlier application in one of these languages.

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Article 53 Formal examination of application

1. The Office shall examine whether: (a) the application has effectively been filed pursuant to Article 49; (b) the application complies with the conditions laid down in Article 50 and the conditions laid down in the implementing rules pursuant to that Article; (c) where appropriate, a claim for priority complies with the provision laid down in Article 52 (2), (4) and (5); and (d) the fees due pursuant to Article 83 have been paid within a time limit specified by the Office. 2. If the application, although complying with the conditions referred to in Article 51, does not comply with other conditions laid down in Article 50, the Office shall give the applicant an opportunity to correct any deficiencies that may have been identified. 3. If the application does not comply with the conditions referred to in Article 51, the Office shall inform the applicant thereof, or, where this is not possible, publish the information pursuant to Article 89.

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Article 54 Substantive examination

1. The Office shall examine whether the variety may be the object of a Community plant variety right pursuant to Article 5, whether the variety is new pursuant to Article 10, whether the applicant is entitled to file an application pursuant to Article 12 and whether the conditions laid down in Article 82 are complied with. The Office shall also examine whether the proposed variety denomination is suitable pursuant to Article 63. For such purposes, it may avail itself of the services of other bodies. 2. The first applicant shall be deemed to be entitled to the Community plant variety right pursuant to Article 11. This shall not apply if, before a decision on the application is taken, the Office is aware, or it is shown by a final judgment delivered with regard to a claim for entitlement pursuant to Article 98 (4), that entitlement is not or is not solely vested in the first applicant. Where the identity of the sole or other person entitled has been determined, the person or persons may enter the proceedings as applicant or applicants.

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Article 55 Technical examination

1. Where the Office has not discovered any impediment to the grant of a Community plant variety right on the basis of the examination pursuant to Articles 53 and 54, it shall arrange for the technical examination relating to compliance with the conditions laid down in Articles 7, 8 and 9 to be carried out by the competent office or offices in at least one of the Member States entrusted with responsibility for the technical examination of varieties of the species concerned by the Administrative Council, hereafter referred to as the ‘Examination Office or Offices’. 2. Where no Examination Office is available, the Office may, with the consent of the Administrative Council, entrust other appropriate agencies with responsibility therefore or establish its own sub-offices for the same purposes. For the purpose of the provisions of this Chapter, such agencies or sub-offices shall be considered as Examination Offices. They may avail themselves of facilities made available by the applicant. 3. The Office shall forward to the Examination Offices copies of the application as required under the implementing rules pursuant to Article 114. 4. The Office shall determine, through general rules or through requests in individual cases, when, where and in what quantities and qualities the material for the technical examination and reference samples are to be submitted. 5. Where the applicant makes a claim for priority pursuant to Article 52 (2) or (4), he shall submit the necessary material and any further documents required within two years of the date of application pursuant to Article 51. If the earlier application is withdrawn or refused before the expiry of two years, the Office may require the applicant to submit the material or any further documents within a specified time limit.

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Article 56 The conduct of technical examinations

1. Unless a different manner of technical examination relating to compliance with the conditions laid down in Articles 7 to 9 has been arranged, the Examination Offices shall, for the purposes of the technical examination, grow the variety or undertake any other investigations required. 2. The conduct of any technical examinations shall be in accordance with test guidelines issued by the Administrative Council and any instructions given by the Office. 3. For the purposes of the technical examination, the Examination Offices may, with the approval of the Office, avail themselves of the services of other technically qualified bodies and take into account the available findings of such bodies. 4. Each Examination Office shall begin the technical examination, unless the Office has otherwise provided, no later than on the date on which a technical examination would have begun on the basis of an application for a national property right filed on the date on which the application sent by the Office was received by the Examination Office. 5. In the case of Article 55 (5), each Examination Office shall begin the technical examination, unless the Office has otherwise provided, no later than on the date on which an examination would have begun on the basis of an application for a national property right, provided the necessary material and any further documents required were submitted at that date. 6. The Administrative Council may determine that the technical examination for varieties of vine and tree species may begin at a later date.

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Article 57 Examination reports

1. The Examination Office shall, at the request of the Office or if it deems the results of the technical examination to be adequate to evaluate the variety, send the Office an examination report, and, where it considers that the conditions laid down in Articles 7 to 9 are complied with, a description of the variety. 2. The Office shall communicate the results of the technical examinations and the variety description to the applicant and shall give him an opportunity to comment thereon. 3. Where the Office does not consider the examination report to constitute a sufficient basis for decision, it may provide of its own motion, after consultation of the applicant, or on request of the applicant for complementary examination. For the purposes of assessment of the results, any complementary examination carried out until a decision taken pursuant to Articles 61 and 62 becomes final shall be considered to be part of the examination referred to in Article 56 (1). 4. The results of the technical examination shall be subject to the exclusive rights of disposal of the Office and may only otherwise be used by the Examination Offices in so far as this is approved by the Office.

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Article 58 Costs of technical examinations

The Office shall pay the Examination Offices a fee in accordance with the implementing rules pursuant to Article 114.

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Article 59 Objections to grant of right

1. Any person may lodge with the Office a written objection to the grant of a Community plant variety right. 2. Objectors shall be party to the proceedings for grant of the Community plant variety right in addition to the applicant. Without prejudice to Article 88, objectors shall have access to the documents, including the results of the technical examination and the variety description as referred to in Article 57 (2). 3. Objections may be based only on the contention that: (a) the conditions laid down in Articles 7 to 11 are not complied with; (b) there is an impediment under Article 63 (3) or (4) to a proposed variety denomination. 4. Objections may be lodged: (a) at any time after the application and prior to a decision pursuant to Articles 61 or 62, in the case of paragraph 3 (a) hereof; (b) within three months of the publication of the proposed variety denomination pursuant to Article 89, in the case of objections under paragraph 3 (b) hereof. 5. The decisions on objections may be taken together with the decisions pursuant to Articles 61, 62 or 63.

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Article 60 Priority of a new application in the case of objections

Where an objection on the grounds that the conditions laid down in Article 11 are not met leads to the withdrawal or refusal of the application for a Community plant variety right and if the objector files an application for a Community plant variety right within one month following the withdrawal or within one month of the date on which the refusal becomes final in respect of the same variety, he may require that the date of the withdrawn or refused application be deemed to be the date of his application.

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Article 61 Refusal

1. The Office shall refuse applications for a Community plant variety right if and as soon as it establishes that the applicant: (a) has not remedied any deficiencies within the meaning of Article 53 which he was given an opportunity to correct within the time limit notified to him; (b) has not complied with a rule or request pursuant to Article 55 (4) or (5) within the time limit laid down, unless the Office has consented to non-submission; or (c) has not proposed a variety denomination which is suitable pursuant to Article 63. 2. The Office shall also refuse applications for a Community plant variety right if: (a) it establishes that the conditions it is required to verify pursuant to Article 54 have not been fulfilled; or (b) it reaches the opinion on the basis of the examination reports pursuant to Article 57, that the conditions laid down in Articles 7, 8 and 9 have not been fulfilled.

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Article 62 Grant

If the Office is of the opinion that the findings of the examination are sufficient to decide on the application and there are no impediments pursuant to Articles 59 and 61, it shall grant the Community plant variety right. The decision shall include an official description of the variety.

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Article 63 Variety denomination

1 Where a Community plant variety right is granted, the Office shall approve, for the variety in question, the variety denomination proposed by the applicant pursuant to Article 50 (3), if it considers, on the basis of the examination made pursuant to the second sentence of Article 54 (1), that this denomination is suitable. 2. A variety denomination is suitable, if there is no impediment pursuant to paragraphs 3 or 4 of this Article. 3. There is an impediment for the designation of a variety denomination where: (a) its use in the territory of the Community is precluded by the prior right of a third party; (b) it may commonly cause its users difficulties as regards recognition or reproduction; (c) it is identical or may be confused with a variety denomination under which another variety of the same or of a closely related species is entered in an official register of plant varieties or under which material of another variety has been marketed in a Member State or in a Member of the International Unit for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, unless the other variety no longer remains in existence and its denomination has acquired no special significance; (d) it is identical or may be confused with other designations which are commonly used for the marketing of goods or which have to be kept free under other legislation; (e) it is liable to give offence in one of the Member States or is contrary to public policy; (f) it is liable to mislead or to cause confusion concerning the characteristics, the value or the identity of the variety, or the identity of the breeder or any other party to proceedings. 4. There is another impediment where, in the case of a variety which has already been entered: (a) in one of the Member States; or (b) in a Member of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants; or (c) in another State for which it has been established in a Community act that varieties are evaluated there under rules which are equivalent to those laid down in the Directives on common catalogues; in an official register of plant varieties or material thereof and has been marketed there for commercial purposes, and the proposed variety denomination differs from that which has been registered or used there, unless the latter one is the object of an impediment pursuant to paragraph 3. 5. The Office shall publish the species which it considers ‘closely related’ within the meaning of paragraph 3 (c).

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Article 64 Technical verification

1. The Office shall verify the continuing existence unaltered of the protected varieties. 2. For this purpose, a technical verification shall be carried out pursuant to Articles 55 and 56. 3. The holder shall be required to provide all the information necessary to assess the continuing existence unaltered of the variety to the Office and to the Examination Offices to which technical verification of the variety has been entrusted. He shall be required, in accordance with the instructions given by the Office, to submit material of the variety and to permit to verify whether appropriate measures have been taken to ensure the continuing existence unaltered of the variety.

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Article 65 Report on the technical verification

1. At the request of the Office, or if it establishes that the variety is not uniform or stable, the Examination Office entrusted with the technical verification shall send the Office a report on its findings. 2. If any deficiencies pursuant to paragraph 1 have been found during the technical verification, the Office shall inform the holder of the results of the technical verification and shall give him an opportunity to comment thereon.

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Article 66 Amendment of the variety denomination

1. The Office shall amend a variety denomination designated pursuant to Article 63 if it establishes that the denomination does not satisfy, or no longer satisfies, the conditions laid down in Article 63 and in the event of a prior conflicting right of a third party, if the holder agrees to the amendment or the holder or any other person required to use the variety denomination has been prohibited, by a final judgment, for this reason from using the variety denomination. 2. The Office shall give the holder an opportunity to propose an amended variety denomination and shall proceed in accordance with Article 63. 3. Objections may be lodged against the proposed amended variety denomination in accordance with Article 59 (3) (b).

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Article 67 Decisions subject to appeal

1. An appeal shall lie from decisions of the Office which have been taken pursuant to Articles 20, 21, 59, 61, 62, 63 and 66, as well as on decisions related to fees pursuant to Article 83, to costs pursuant to Article 85, to the entering or deletion of information in the Register pursuant to Article 87 and to the public inspection pursuant to Article 88. 2. An appeal lodged pursuant to paragraph 1 shall have suspensory effect. The Office may, however, if it considers that circumstances so require, order that the contested decision not be suspended. 3. An appeal may lie from decisions of the Office pursuant to Articles 29 and 100 (2), unless a direct action is brought pursuant to Article 74. The appeal shall not have suspensory effect. 4. An appeal against a decision which does not terminate proceedings as regards one of the parties may only be made in conjunction with an appeal against the final decision, unless the decision provides for separate appeal.

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Article 68 Persons entitled to appeal and to be parties to appeal proceedings

Any natural or legal person may appeal, subject to Article 82, against a decision, addressed to that person, or against a decision which, although in the form of a decision addressed to another person, is of direct and individual concern to the former. The parties to proceedings may, and the Office shall, be party to the appeal proceedings.

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Article 69 Time limit and form

Notice of appeal shall be filed in writing at the Office within two months of the service of the decision where addressed to the appealing person, or, in the absence thereof, within two months of the publication of the decision, and a written statement setting out the grounds of appeal shall be filed within four months after the aforesaid service or publication.

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Article 70 Interlocutory revision

1. If the body of the Office which has prepared the decision considers the appeal to be admissible and well founded, the Office shall rectify the decision. This shall not apply where the appellant is opposed by another party to the appeal proceedings. 2. If the decision is not rectified within one month after receipt of the statement of grounds, for the appeal, the Office shall forthwith: — decide whether it will take an action pursuant to Article 67 (2), second sentence, and — remit the appeal to the Board of Appeal.

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Article 71 Examination of appeals

1. If the appeal is admissible, the Board of Appeal shall examine whether the appeal is well-founded. 2. When examining the appeal, the Board of Appeal shall as often as necessary invite the parties to the appeal proceedings to file observations on notifications issued by itself or on communications from the other parties to the appeal proceedings within specified time limits. Parties to the appeal proceedings shall be entitled to make oral representations.

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Article 72 Decision on appeal

The Board of Appeal shall decide on the appeal on the basis of the examination carried out pursuant to Article 71. The Board of Appeal may exercise any power which lies within the competence of the Office, or it may remit the case to the competent body of the Office for further action. The latter one shall, in so far as the facts are the same, be bound by the ratio decidendi of the Board of Appeal.

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Article 73 Actions against decisions of the Boards of Appeal

1. Actions may be brought before the Court of Justice against decisions of the Boards of Appeal on appeals. 2. The action may be brought on grounds of lack of competence, infringement of an essential procedural requirement, infringement of the Treaty, of this Regulation or of any rule of law relating to their application, or misuse of power. 3. The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction to annul or to alter the contested decision. 4. The action shall be open to any party to appeal proceedings which has been unsuccessful, in whole or in part, in its submissions. 5. The action shall be brought before the Court of Justice within two months of the date of service of the decision of the Board of Appeal. 6. The Office shall be required to take the necessary measures to comply with the judgment of the Court of Justice.

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Article 74

Direct action 1. A direct action may be brought before the Court of Justice against decisions of the Office pursuant to Articles 29 and 100 (2). 2. The provisions laid down in Article 73 shall apply mutatis mutandis.

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Article 75 Statement of grounds on which decisions are based, right of audience

Decisions of the Office shall be accompanied by statements of the grounds on which they are based. They shall be based only on grounds or evidence on which the parties to proceedings have had an opportunity to present their comments orally or in writing.

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Article 76 Examination of the facts by the Office of its own motion

In proceedings before it the Office shall make investigations on the facts of its own motion, to the extent that they come under the examination pursuant to Articles 54 and 55. It shall disregard facts or items of evidence which have not been submitted within the time limit set by the Office.

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Article 77 Oral proceedings

1. Oral proceedings shall be held either on the initiative of the Office itself or at the request of any of the parties to proceedings. 2. Without prejudice to paragraph 3, oral proceedings before the Office shall not be public. 3. Oral proceedings before the Board of Appeal including delivery of the decision, shall be public in so far as the Board of Appeal before which the proceedings are taking place does not decide otherwise in circumstances where serious and unwarranted disadvantages could arise from admitting the public, particularly for any of the parties to the appeal proceedings.

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Article 78 Taking of evidence

1. In any proceedings before the Office, the means of giving or obtaining evidence may include the following: (a) hearing the parties to proceedings; (b) requests for information; (c) the production of documents or other evidence; (d) hearing the witnesses; (e) opinions by experts; (f) inspection; (g) sworn affidavits. 2. Where the Office decides through a collective body, that body may commission one of its members to examine the evidence adduced. 3. If the Office considers it necessary that a party to proceedings, witness or expert give evidence orally, it shall either: (a) issue a summons requiring the relevant person to appear before it; or (b) request the competent judicial or other authority in the country of domicile of the relevant person to take the evidence as provided for in Article 91 (2). 4. A party to proceedings, witness or expert who is summoned before the Office may request it to allow his evidence to be heard by the competent judicial or other authority in his country of domicile. On receipt of such a request or in the case that no reaction was given to the summons, the Office may, in accordance with Article 91 (2), request the competent judicial or other authority to hear the evidence of that person. 5. If a party to proceedings, witness or expert gives evidence before the Office, the Office may, if it considers it advisable that the evidence be given under oath or otherwise in binding form, request the competent judicial or other authority in the country of domicile of the relevant person to hear his evidence under the requisite conditions. 6. When the Office requests a competent judicial or other authority to take evidence, it may request it to take the evidence in binding form and to permit a member of the Office to attend the hearing and question the party to proceedings, witness or expert either through that judicial or other authority or directly.

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Article 79 Service

The Office shall of its own motion effect service of all decisions and summonses, and of notifications and communications, from which a time limit is reckoned, or which are required to be served either in pursuance of other provisions of this Regulation or by provisions adopted pursuant to this Regulation or by order of the President of the Office. Service may be effected through the competent variety offices of the Member States.

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