Intellectual & Industrial Property Industrial Property

Biotechnological inventions: Commissioner Monti applauds Council agreement

Political agreement on a Common Position concerning the proposed Directive on legal protection for biotechnological inventions, reached at the 27 November Internal Market Council, has been welcomed by Mario Monti, European Commissioner for the Single Market. The Directive would harmonise national rules on the application of patent protection to biotechnological inventions. The Directive would not, however, allow the patenting of "discoveries" (such as finding a substance present in nature). As a result of amendments proposed by the European Parliament, the cloning of human beings would be explicitly outlawed by the Directive, together with any form of manipulation of germ line genetic identity. The proposed Directive is identified as a priority measure by the Action Plan for the Single Market endorsed by the Amsterdam European Council.

"The Council agreement brings us closer to adoption of a Directive that would guarantee that legally binding ethical safeguards are applied in all Member States while ensuring that biotechnology inventions enjoy a high level of patent protection throughout the Single Market", commented Mr Monti. "In particular, the Directive would not allow the patenting of procedures involving cloning for purposes of human reproduction and involving modification of the germ line genetic identity of the human being, as well as particular uses of human embryos. At the same time, by providing a well-defined framework for protecting biotechnology inventions in the EU, the Directive would encourage long-term investment in biotechnology. Such investment is crucial to the EU's competitiveness and to job-creation, which is why this proposal is identified as a priority in the Action Plan".

The current proposal for a Directive was presented by the Commission in December 1995 after the European Parliament rejected a joint text agreed by the Conciliation Committee in January 1995 concerning the Commission's previous proposal for a Directive, put forward in 1988.

Once the Common Position has been formally adopted by the Council, it will be forwarded to the European Parliament for its second reading under the co-decision procedure.

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