There is a European Patents Office in Munich but there is no such thing as a European patent, Willi Rothley, a german socialist Member of the European Parliament, has said in a legal commission discussion on legislative protection of biotechnology inventions.
Since the parliament rejected a compromise draft directive from the European Commission on genetic engineering and biotechnology developments on the grounds of insufficient ethical safeguards (Marketletter March 13), the French presidency has made determined efforts to get the show back on the road. Mr Rothley said the Parliament needed a procedure to ease agreement between the European Union Council and the Parliament.
As to the results of rejecting the last proposal, he said that while he did not want to talk of an exodus of the pharmaceutical industry from the EU, the rejection "nevertheless constitutes a signal that the EU wants nothing to do with biotechnology." A new draft directive was required, but it should not be empty of content since that would be catastrophic. It is an illusion in any event to believe biotechnology research could be stopped, he added.
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