Euro Commission Revises EMEA Fee Reg

The European Commission has revised its proposed regulation on fees payable to the European Medicines Evaluation Agency, to take in a European Parliament amendment which states that any surpluses in the agency's budget should accrue to the general European Union budget.

The Commission has said, however, that it has rejected two other amendments concerning this issue because it might have to revise fees rapidly in the light of experience and the needs of the agency. The Commission added that it wanted to emphasize the temporary nature of the regulation currently under discussion, because it hopes to present a new proposal during 1997 on which the Strasbourg parliament will be consulted.

EU Council Rejects Biotech Patent Directive Meantime, the Council of Ministers of the EU has voted to reject the draft directive on biotechnology patents, following the vote against it in the European Parliament (Marketletter March 6).