Supplementary Protection Certficates

European practice

ECJ decision in joined cases C-207/03 and C-252/03

The European Court of Justice has published his judgement in joined cases C-207/03 (Novartis AG) and C-252/03 (Millenium Pharmaceuticals Inc.). The Court has basically agreed with the opinion of the ECJ Advocate General, which was delivered on 7 September 2004.
The Court rules as follows: In so far as an authorisation to place a medicinal product on the market issued by the Swiss authorities and automatically recognised by the Principality of Liechtenstein under that State's legislation is the first authorisation to place that product on the market in one of the States of the European Economic Area, it constitutes the first authorisation to place the product on the market within the meaning of Article 13 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1768/92 of 18 June 1992 concerning the creation of a supplementary protection certificate for medicinal products, as it is to be read for the purposes of the application of the Agreement on the European Economic Area.