French Intellectual Property Code
In forceApart from the cases provided for by European Union regulations, the customs authorities may, at the written request of the holder of a plant variety certificate, accompanied by proof of entitlement, detain goods which the holder claims to be counterfeit for the purposes of its controls.
This detention is immediately notified to the applicant and the holder. The public prosecutor is also informed of this measure by the customs authorities.
During the notification referred to in the first sentence of the second paragraph of this article, the nature and actual or estimated quantity as well as images of the goods are communicated to the holder of the plant variety certificate, by way of derogation from article 59 bis of the Customs Code. This information may also be communicated before the implementation of the measure provided for in this article.
Subject to the procedures laid down in Articles L. 623-40 and L. 623-41 of this code, the detention measure shall be lifted automatically if the applicant fails, within ten working days, or three working days for perishable goods, of being notified that the goods have been detained, to provide evidence to the customs administration of either precautionary measures decided by the competent civil court, or to have taken civil or criminal action and to have lodged guarantees intended to compensate the holder of the goods in the event that the infringement is not subsequently recognised, or to have lodged a complaint with the public prosecutor. The customs administration may extend the period of ten working days provided for in this paragraph by a maximum of ten working days at the duly motivated request of the applicant. In the event of an extension, the public prosecutor and the holder of the goods shall be informed.
The costs associated with the detention measure or the precautionary measures ordered by the competent civil court shall be borne by the applicant.
For the purposes of taking the legal action referred to in the fourth paragraph of this article, the applicant may obtain from the customs administration communication of the names and addresses of the consignor, importer, consignee and declarant of the goods detained or their holder, as well as images of these goods and information on their quantity, origin, provenance and destination, by way of derogation from the Article 59 bis of the Customs Code.
The detention referred to in the first paragraph of this article does not apply to:
1° Goods with Community status, legally manufactured or released for free circulation in a Member State of the European Union and intended, after having passed through the customs territory defined in Article 1 of the Customs Code, to be placed on the market of another Member State of the European Union to be legally marketed there;
2° On goods of Community status, legally manufactured or released for free circulation in another Member State of the European Union, in which they have been placed under the transit procedure, and which are intended, after having passed through the customs territory defined in the same Article 1, to be exported to a non-Member State of the European Union.
