Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2014:2104
Date: 2014-07-17
Language of the case: English
Subject matter: Intellectual, industrial and commercial property;Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber), 18 December 2014 Approximation of laws — Legal protection of biotechnological inventions — Directive 98/44 — Concept of human embryo — Non-fertilised human ovum — Included — Condition — Inherent capacity of developing into a human being — Verification a matter for the national court (European Parliament and Council Directive 98/44, Art. 6(2)(c)) Article 6(2)(c) of Directive 98/44 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions must be interpreted as meaning that an unfertilised human ovum whose division and further development have been stimulated by parthenogenesis does not constitute a ‘human embryo’, within the meaning of that provision, if, in the light of knowledge which is sufficiently tried and tested by international medical science, it does not, in itself, have the inherent capacity of developing into a human being, this being a matter for the national court to determine. (see paras 36, 38, operative part)