Re-launch of the European Commission's tender for a Study on legal aspects of SPCs in the EU

The European Commission's initial tender for a "Study on legal aspects of supplementary protection certificates in the EU" has had to be re-launched due to a very limited number of bids:  the new tender has a closing date of 27 July 2016. 

The study's purpose is stated as follows:

The contracted study shall evaluate whether a new European SPC title, with the current or broader scope within the field of pharmaceutical and plant protection products, with improved provisions, is required to meet the requirements of current and expected innovative market developments in the EU.

With this primary purpose, the study shall evaluate the current SPC framework in terms of its legal efficiency in meeting its stated objectives given the development of directly affected and related product markets.

It shall also suggest whether the existing SPC rules need to be recalibrated given identified limitations.

The results could serve as a basis for an impact assessment for a future proposal by the Commission to recalibrate the existing EU SPC rules.

Details of the tender can be found here.