Judgment of the General Court (Sixth Chamber) of 13 July 2017 — Boomkwekerij van Rijn-de Bruyn v OCVV — Artevos (Oksana)

(Case T‑767/14)

(New varieties of plants — Community plant variety rights — Application for a Community plant variety right for the pear variety Oksana — Objections — Rejection of the application by the Board of Appeal of the CPVO — Article 10 of Regulation (EC) No 2100/94 — Novelty of the candidate variety — Lack of evidence)

1.      Agriculture — Uniform legislation — Protection of plant varieties — Decisions of the CPVO or its Boards of Appeal — Judicial review — Scope — Limits

(Council Regulation No 2100/94, Art. 73)

(see paras 30, 69-71)

2.      EU law — Principles — Rights of defence — Audi alteram partem rule — Scope — No need to hear the parties on each point of the legal assessment

(Council Regulation No 2100/94, Art. 75)

(see para. 40)

3.      Agriculture — Uniform legislation — Protection of plant varieties — Appeals procedure — Appeal brought against a decision of the Community Plant Variety Office and referred to the Board of Appeal — Investigation of the facts of the Court’s own motion

(Council Regulation No 2100/94, Arts 54, 55 and 76)

(see para. 73)

Re:

ACTION against the decision of the Board of Appeal of the CPVO of 2 July 2014 (Case A 007/2013) concerning the grant of a Community plant variety right in respect of pears of the Oksana variety.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;

2. Orders Boomkwekerij van Rijn-de Bruyn BV to pay the costs.