To file an application for the registration of a variety to the COMESA Variety Catalogue, the applicant /maintainer of variety has to be located in one of the COMESA Member States or will have to be represented by an agent located in one of the COMESA Member States.
The candidate variety must have been released in two COMESA Member States before application for regional registration in the COMESA Variety Catalogue.
Applications for varieties already released in one COMESA Member State before establishment of the COMESA Variety Catalogue will be accepted provided that they will be released in a second COMESA Member State after one season of Value for Cultivation or Use (VCU) or National Performance tests.
You can apply for registration using an application form, which can be downloaded or found at your National Seed Authority (NSA) Office, or directly on-line. Kindly note that on-line application is strongly recommended.
The person in charge of variety registration on behalf of a company will have first to create an account in line (see section “login” or “Filing an application”), or on request to the COMESA Seed Office (SCO). This account will be validated after the reception by the COMESA Seed Office (CSO) of a letter bearing the letterhead of your company, signed by a legal representative, and attesting that the person is authorized to apply for COMESA varieties registration.
The letter has to be sent to CSO Secretariat address on the address below:
COMESA Secretariat, Ben Bella Road, P.O. Box 30051, Lusaka, Zambia
After having filed in the registration form, the applicant will have to pay the regional COMESA registration fee and also 1st year annual fee for the maintenance of the regional variety to the COMESA Seed Office (CSO). The applicant, variety maintainer or seed producer shall pay national application or handling fees according to the NSAs prescribed fees of two COMESA Member States where the variety was released.
The application will be processed by CSO after reception of the due payment. It is estimated that from application to the regional release of the variety on the COMESA Variety Catalogue should take maximum 15 working days.
Once a variety is registered in the regional catalogue, an annual fee will have to be paid in order to maintain the variety on the catalogue in the following year.
Tariff of fees (December 2017) :
The fees are non-refundable, even in case of rejection of the variety. A variety can be withdrawal from the COMESA Variety Catalogue if the information on the variety is incorrect, annual fees are unpaid, a variety no longer conforms to its original characteristics and if applicant/ seed company / maintainer cannot provide the original material of the variety. If the variety is not approved, it will be entered in the COMESA Variety Catalogue Database with information about reasons for rejection. Appeals to non-registration on the COMESA Variety shall be dealt with the CSO in close collaboration with the established COMESA Seed Committee.
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