The European Commission has held a consultation on "Medicinal & plant protection products – single procedure for the granting of SPCs". The request for input was recently closed and the proposal is now awaiting the Commission's adoption.
The aim of the proposal is to:
- increase legal certainty surrounding the procedure for issuing supplementary protection certificates (SPCs);
- provide unitary SPC protection in relation to unitary patents;
- make information relating to SPCs more transparent (ie, clearer and more accessible and understandable); and
- reduce the costs and burden of obtaining and maintaining SPC protection in the European Union.
For further information on this topic please contact Malte Scheel or Tobias Maier at Eversheds Sutherland LLP by telephone (+49 89 54565 0) or email ([email protected] or [email protected]). The Eversheds Sutherland LLP website can be accessed at www.eversheds-sutherland.com.