CELEX: 11985I/PRO/07
Language: en
Date: 1985-06-12 00:00:00
Title: DOCUMENTS CONCERNING THE ACCESSION OF THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN AND THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC TO THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, ACT CONCERNING THE CONDITIONS OF ACCESSION OF THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN AND THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC AND THE ADJUSTMENTS TO THE TREATIES, PROTOCOL 7 ON SPANISH QUANTITATIVE QUOTAS

424                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                15 . 11.85
                                                         Protocol 7
                                                on Spanish quantitative quotas
 1 . The quotas referred to in Article 43 shall be global         3 . The Kingdom of Spain shall notify the Commis­
 and open without discrimination to all the present               sion each year or each half year and shall publish offi­
 Member States. They shall be open to all operators               cially the opening of the quotas.
 without restriction .
                                                                  4. The time limit for making an application for a lic­
                                                                  ence shall be for a minimum of four weeks from the
                                                                  publication or notification ; once this time limit has
 2. Quotas shall be open in one instalment at the
                                                                  expired, the Kingdom of Spain shall grant the licences
 beginning of the calendar year.
                                                                  within a maximum period of 20 working days.
 However, the Kingdom of Spain may open these quo­                 5 . The import licence shall be valid for at least six
                                                                   months .
tas in two equal instalments, the second instalment
starting at the beginning of the second half of the year.
 In that case the remainder of the first instalment shall         6. The Kingdom of Spain shall furnish information to
be carried over to the second instalment so as to com­            the Commission at half-yearly intervals on the use of
ply with the global annual amount.                                the quotas.
                                                         Protocol 8
                                                     on Spanish patents
 1 . The Kingdom of Spain shall upon accession adjust             another process patent for the manufacture of a prod­
its patent law so as to make it compatible with the prin­         uct identical to that obtained as the result of the
ciples of the free movement of goods and with the level           patented process of the plaintiff, if that other patent
of protection of industrial property attained in the              was issued before the date of accession . Nevertheless,
Community, in particular in the fields of contractual             the Kingdom of Spain shall repeal from accession
licensing rules, of exclusive compulsory licensing, of            Article 273 of its law relating to patents, currently in
the compulsory exploitation of a patent and also the              force .
patent of importation.
To that end, close cooperation shall be instituted                In cases where shifting the burden of proof does not
between the Commission services and the Spanish                   apply, the Kingdom of Spain shall continue to require
authorities ; this cooperation shall also cover the prob­         the patent holder to adduce proof of infringement. In
lems of transition of current Spanish law towards new             all these cases the Kingdom of Spain shall however
law.
                                                                  pass new legislation with effect from 7 October 1992,
                                                                  introducing a judicial procedure known as 'distraint­
2. The Kingdom of Spain shall introduce, in its                   description '.
national legislation, a provision on shifting the burden
of proof corresponding to Article 75 of the Luxem­
bourg Convention of 15 December 1975 on the Com­
munity patent.                                                    ' Distraint-description' means a procedure forming part
                                                                  of the system referred to in the preceding paragraphs by
                                                                  which any person entitled to bring an action for
This provision shall apply upon accession with regard             infringement may, after obtaining a Court order,
to new process patents filed as from the date of acces­           granted on his application, cause a detailed description
sion .
                                                                  to be made, at the premises of the alleged infringer, by
                                                                  a bailiff assisted by experts, of the processes in ques­
For patents filed prior to that date, this provision shall        tion, in particular by photocopying technical docu­
apply not later than 7 October 1992.                              ments , with or without actual distraint.This Court order
                                                                  may order the payment of a security, intended to grant
However, this provision shall not apply if the infringe­          damages to the alleged infringer in case of injury
ment proceedings are brought against the holder of                caused by the 'distraint-description'.