What is the Budapest Treaty?
This is an international convention governing the recognition of deposits in officially approved culture collections for the purpose of patent applications in any country that is a party to it. Because of the difficulties and on occasion of virtual impossibility of reproducing a microorganism from a description of it in a patent specification, it is essential to deposit a strain in a culture collection centre for testing and examination by others. The Treaty was signed in Budapest in 1973 and later on amended in 1980. India has become a member of this Treaty, with effect from December 17, 2001.
