WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1180/97 by Gianni TAMINO to the Commission. First Italian patent for a transgenic rat
Date: 1997-04-03
Institutions: European Parliament, TAMINO
Subjects: European patent, Italy, animal experimentation, biotechnology, genetically modified organism, invention, patent, patent law, protection of animals













EUR-Lex - 91997E1180 - EN






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91997E1180

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1180/97 by Gianni TAMINO to the Commission. First Italian patent for a transgenic rat  


Official Journal C 373 , 09/12/1997 P. 0081 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1180/97 by Gianni Tamino (V) to the Commission (3 April 1997)Subject: First Italian patent for a transgenic ratOn 3 December 1996, the Italian patents and trade marks office at the Ministry of Industry issued patent No 1.265.794 to the Angeletti Institute for Molecular Biology Research, the first patent ever to be granted in respect of a transgenic animal, namely a rat predisposed to develop liver cancer.Articles 52 and 53 of the European Convention on Patents signed in Munich in 1973 stipulates that patents may not be issued for plant species and animal breeds, and there are no Italian or European rules which would exclude plant or animal species produced by genetic engineering from the abovementioned provisions of the Convention. On the contrary, Parliament rejected a proposal for a directive on this subject on 1 March 1995 arguing that the issuing of patents should be prohibited for genetically modified organisms.Does the Commission not consider that the decision taken by the Italian patents office runs counter to the view expressed by Parliament and the Munich Convention, bearing in mind also that a fresh proposal for a directive is under discussion in Parliament and that a similar application to the European Patents Office is still awaiting a reply pending a legal definition of this delicate question, which raises not only legal, but also ethical and scientific issues?Answer given by Mr Monti on behalf of the Commission (14 May 1997)The Commission would stress in reply to the Honourable Member's question that it has no remit for assessing whether a decision taken by a national patent office is in line with the wishes of Parliament and the provisions of the Munich Convention on the granting of European patents.As regards the new proposal for a Parliament and Council Directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions ((COM(95) 661 final. )), the text put forward by the Commission contains provisions confirming the patentability of animals and plants and addressing the ethical dimension of the patentability of animals. It suggests, with regard to the exclusion from patentability on grounds of public policy or morality, that 'processes for modifying the genetic identity of animals which are likely to cause them suffering or physical handicaps without any substantial benefit to man or animal, and also animals resulting from such processes' should be considered unpatentable 'whenever the suffering or physical handicaps inflicted on the animals concerned are disproportionate to the objective pursued'.Under the co-decision procedure, Parliament will have the opportunity of giving its views on the Commission's proposal.