European Commission steps up pressure on states to implement patents directive 5/2/03. By the Public Health Genetics Unit European Commission threatens nine states over their failure to comply with 1998 patents directive.

The European Commission has become frustrated by the lack of progress in many member states towards implementing the 1998 directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions.

Only six countries, including the UK, have incorporated the provisions of the directive into their national legislation, despite the fact that the official deadline for implementation, 30 July 2000, is long past. In the remaining nine states, which include both France and Germany, moves towards implementation appear to have stalled during debate in the legislature or have been shelved because of national elections.

The Commission, which last October issued its annual report on the development and implications of patent law in the field of biotechnology (a document that includes, for example, discussion of issues including the scope of patents, cloning and stem cell technology), decided in December 2002 to threaten the nine errant states with being taken to the European Court of Justice over their failure to comply with the directive.

In addition, on 28 January 2003 it announced that it has set up an expert group "to ensure that the directive will work for research, innovation and the public interest not against them". The 13-strong group will not consider ethical issues surrounding patents – these are the province of the European Group on Ethics – but will focus on legal and technical aspects, and the impact of the patenting system on research in science and technology. Its reports will be published at the same time as the Commission's next annual monitoring report, towards the end of 2003.

Article courtesy of the Public Health Genetics Unit .