Budapest Notification No. 82
Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure

Communication of the German Democratic Republic Relating to the Acquisition of the Status of International Depositary Authority by the IMET - Nationale Sammlung von Mikroorganismen (IMET - National Collection of Microorganisms)

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 April 27, 1989, of a written communication, dated March 22, 1989, from the Government of the German Democratic Republic, relating to the IMET - Nationale Sammlung von Mikroorganismen (IMET - National Collection of Microorganisms), indicating that the said depositary institution, is located on the territory of the German Democratic Republic and including a declaration of assurances to the effect that the said institution complies and will continue to comply with the requirements concerning the acquisition of the status of international depositary authority as specified in Article 6(2) of 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. The text of that communication is attached.

The IMET - Nationale Sammlung von Mikroorganismen (IMET - National Collection of Microorganisms) will acquire the status of international depositary authority under the Budapest Treaty as from August 31, 1989, the date of publication of the said communication in the July/August 1989 issue of Industrial Property/La Propriété industrielle.

May 29, 1989

Text of the Written Communication of the Government of the German Democratic Republic, dated March 22, 1989, Relating to the IMET - Nationale Sammlung von Mikroorganismen (IMET - National Collection of Microorganisms)

[Original in German - Translation in English provided by the Government of the German Democratic Republic]

COMMUNICATION

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the German Democratic Republic presents its compliments to the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization and has the honor, on the occasion of the deposit of the instrument of accession of the German Democratic Republic to the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure of April 28, 1977, to communicate the following:

According to Article 7(1) of the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure, the German Democratic Republic herewith nominates the IMET - Nationale Sammlung von Mikroorganismen (IMET - National Collection of Microorganisms) associated with the Zentralinstitut für Mikrobiologie und experimentelle Therapie (Central Institute for Microbiology and Experimental Therapy) of the Academy of Sciences of the German Democratic Republic as an International Depositary Authority. The Collection meets and will continue to meet the requirements under Article 6(2) of the Budapest Treaty regarding the activities of an international depositary authority.

Name and address of the depositary authority:

The IMET-Hinterlegungsstelle is part of the National Collection of Microorganisms existing since 1965. The Collection was registered in 1972 under No. 217 in the World Directory of Culture Collections published by the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC).

It is a member of the WFCC and of the European Culture Collections' Organization (ECCO). The Collection has been working since November 1979 as the officially acknowledged depositary authority of the German Democratic Republic for the purposes of patent procedure. Up to now, 490 strains have been deposited for the purposes of patent procedure.

The Collection has a staff of 16, including six scientists holding a doctor's degree and five qualified technical assistants. All staff members are involved in collecting activities as well as in taxonomic basic research. The strains are preserved in parallel over liquid nitrogen and by freeze-drying (lyophilization). If required, other preservation methods are applied alternatively. The strains preserved by these two methods are kept in separate premises. The strains deposited for the purposes of patent procedure and the pertinent records are specially provided against unauthorized access.

The IMET-Hinterlegungsstelle accepts strains of bacteria, including actinomycetes and cyanobacteria, fungi, including yeasts, unicellular and filamentous algae, bacterial viruses, plasmids per se or included in strains. Strains and materials constituting a danger for man's health or a hazard for the environment, or for the storage or maintenance of which the depositary authority is technically not in a position, may be excluded from deposit.

The IMET-Hinterlegungsstelle charges the following fees:

Fees have to be paid in advance together with the application of the respective service.

The official language of the IMET-Hinterlegungsstelle is German. Correspondence may also be in English.