Article 3(2) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1238/952 provides that the President of the Community Plant Variety Office (‘the Office’) may allow alternative forms of payment of fees and surcharges and establishes a list of those alternative forms. In order to increase flexibility and simplify the processes it is appropriate to include such list of alternative forms of payment in the rules on working methods established by the Administrative Council of the Office on the basis of Article 36(1)(d) of Regulation (EC) No 2100/94.

Article 4(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 sets out the date to be regarded as the date on which payment is received. Based on experience in processing payments, it is necessary to clarify that the full amount of the transfer is to be entered in a bank account held by the Office to ensure that no pending obligations exist towards the Office.

Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 requires the person having made a payment to the Office to indicate in writing his name and the purpose of the payment. If the purpose of the payment cannot be established, the Office sends a reminder within two months. To increase the efficiency of handling payments, this deadline should be reduced from two months to one month.

Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 establishes the application fee. In order to encourage the use of the Office’s online electronic application system the fee for submission of applications by other means, such as paper applications, should be increased from EUR 650 to EUR 800. Moreover, practical experience has shown that the use of the online electronic application system would become more efficient if it was complemented with the obligatory use of the Office’s paperless communication platform for any further exchanges with the Office.

According to Article 7(7) of Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 the Office is to retain EUR 150 of the application fee if the application is not valid under Article 50 of Regulation (EC) No 2100/94. In order to decrease the administrative burden, the entirety of the application fee should be refunded.

In relation to the annual fee, Article 9(4) of Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 lays down that the Office does not refund any payments which have been effected in order to keep the Community plant variety right in force. Experience has shown that, in order to improve transparency, a refund may be provided for if the Office has received a surrender between the date of payment and the anniversary of the date of grant.

Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 sets out the level of fees for arranging and carrying out the technical examination of a variety which is the subject of an application for a Community plant variety right (‘the examination fee’), payable to the Office..

The Administrative Council of the Office has decided to follow the principle of 100 % cost recovery so that the examination offices are reimbursed based on the average real costs of examinations.

Moreover, experience with technical examinations shows that examination fees may change over time for some cost groups. The fees charged by the Office should therefore reflect the total amount of the fees for the respective cost groups to be paid by the Office to the Examination Offices. The fees set out in Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 should therefore be modified for all the cost groups concerned.

Regulation (EC) No 1238/95 should therefore be amended accordingly.

This Regulation should apply from 1 April 2020 in order to allow sufficient time for the Office and the stakeholders to adapt to those amendments.

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Community Plant Variety Rights,