Supplementary Protection Certficates

Supplementary Protection Certficates

European practice

Case No C-31/05 (Pharmacia Italia S.p.A)

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the European Communities by order of the Bundesgerichtshofes (Federal Court of Justice, Germany) of 17 December 2002, for a preliminary ruling in the appeal proceedings brought by Pharmacia Italia (formerly Pharmacia & Upjohn S.p.A on the interpretation of Article 19(1) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92 of 18 June 1992 concerning the creation of a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products (hereinafter the Regulation):
Is the grant of a supplementary protection certificate in a Member State of the Community on the basis of a medicinal product for human beings authorised in that Member State precluded by an authorisation to place the same product on the market as a veterinary medicinal product granted in another Member State of the Community before the date specified in Article 19(1) of the Regulation, or is the sole determining factor the date on which the product was authorised in the Community as a medicinal product for human beings?
The European Court of Justice has given a judgment on 19 October 2004, in which it has ruled:
The grant of a supplementary protection certificate in a Member State of the Community on the basis of a medicinal product for human use authorised in that Member State is precluded by an authorisation to place the product on the market as a veterinary medicinal product granted in another Member State of the Community before the date specified in Article 19(1) of Council Regulation No 1768/92 of 18 June 1992 concerning the creation of a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products.
The Case No C-31/03