Budapest Notification No. 257
Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure

Communication by the European Patent Office Relating to a Limitation of the Status of International Depositary Authority with Respect to Certain Kinds of Microorganisms and a Change in the Address of the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSMZ)

The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) presents his compliments to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and has the honor to notify him of the receipt, on October 11, 2007, of a communication of the European Patent Office, dated October 8, 2007, regarding a limitation of the status of international depositary authority with respect to certain kinds of microorganisms and a change in the address of the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSMZ), an international depositary authority under the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, done at Budapest on April 28, 1977, and amended on September 26, 1980 (See Budapest Notification No. 22 of August 27, 1981).

Pursuant to Article 8(2)(b) of the Budapest Treaty and Rule 4.2(c) of the Regulations under the Budapest Treaty, the limitation of the status of international depositary authority with respect to "murine embryos and mixtures of microbiological cultures comprising more than two components" shall take place at the expiration of three months after the date of the above-mentioned communication of the European Patent Office, that is, on January 8, 2008.

November 2, 2007

Text of the Communication by the European Patent Office Relating to a Limitation of the Status of International Depositary Authority with Respect to Certain Kinds of Microorganisms and a Change in the Address of the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSMZ)

COMMUNICATION

In accordance with Rule 5.1 of the Regulations under the Budapest Treaty, I have the honor to inform you that the DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH has decided to discontinue the performance of the functions for which it is responsible under the Treaty and the Regulations thereunder in respect of murine embryos and mixtures of microbiological cultures comprising more than two components. This decision applies only to future deposits. As a result, the assurances provided by the European Patent Organization in its communications of July 23, 1981, March 8, 1988, July 4, 1990, December 6, 1993 and December 1, 2005 continue to apply to said microorganisms already deposited with the DSMZ.

I also inform you that the new address of the DSMZ is as follows: DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH (DSMZ), Inhoffenstr, 7B, 38124 Braunschweig.

[Original:  English/French]

ANNEX

DSMZ-DEUTSCHE SAMMLUNG VON MIKROORGANISMEN UND ZELLKULTUREN GmbH (DSMZ)
Inhoffenstr. 7 B
38124 Braunschweig

Telephone: (49 531) 26 16 254
Fax: (49 531) 26 16 418, 26 16 225
E-mail: vew@dsmz.de
Internet: http://www.dsmz.de

Kinds of Microorganisms Accepted by the DSMZ

Bacteria and archaea (including those containing plasmids), fungi (including yeasts), bacteriophages, plasmids DNAs, plant viruses, plant cell cultures (undifferentiated plant cell cultures, embryogenic plant cell cultures and tissues, in-vitro shoot cultures), human and animal cell cultures (including hybridomas).

The DSMZ accepts for deposit only those microorganisms which, pursuant to Directive 2000/54/EC on the Protection of Workers from Risks Related to Exposure to Biological Agents at Work (OJ No. L262, pp. 21-45 of 18.09.2000) or the respective German Law (Biostoffverordnung, (BGBI. I p. 50 and p. 2059 as of 27.01.1999)) belong to risk group 1 or 2.

Genetically manipulated organisms or isolated DNA must be processable in accordance with Class 1 or 2 of Directive 98/81/EC on the contained use of genetically modified microorganisms (OJ No. L330, pp. 13-31 of 05.12.1998) or safety level S1 or S2 of the German Law Regulating Genetic Engineering (BGBI. I, pp. 2067-2083 of 21.12.1993, last changed on 21.12.2004 (BGBI. I, pp. 186-196)).

The biological material indicated above cannot be accepted if it is contaminated by foreign organisms.

Mixtures of microbial cultures of more than two components will not be accepted. Mixtures of two components will only be accepted if these a) cannot be cultivated separately as pure cultures and b) can easily be distinguished macroscopically and/or microscopically.

Plant viruses which cannot be multiplied through mechanical infection of plants cannot be accepted for deposit.

The DSMZ reserves the right to refuse to accept for deposit material which in its view represents an unacceptable hazard or which it is not in a position to process.

In all instances, it must be possible to preserve the deposited material by lyophilization or storage in liquid nitrogen or by some other method of long-term preservation without significant change.