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Question for oral answer O-000102/2012 to the Commission Rule 115 Martin Kastler, Herbert Reul, Peter Liese, Elisabeth Jeggle, Peter Jahr, Tadeusz Zwiefka, Klaus- Heiner Lehne on behalf of the PPE Group Martin Häusling, José Bové, Margrete Auken on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group Evelyne Gebhardt, Luigi Berlinguer, Sylvie Guillaume, Françoise Castex, Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg, Evelyn Regner on behalf of the S&D Group Subject: Patenting of essential biological processes There is an upward trend in the number of applications being made to the European Patent Office (EPO) for patents on plants derived from conventional breeding. In 2010, the EPO’s Enlarged Board of Appeal (EBoA) decided that methods used for the conventional breeding of plants are not patentable (decisions G2/07 and G1/08). The patent cases reviewed in these decisions were a patent on broccoli (EP 1069819) and one on tomatoes (EP 1211926), both derived from conventional breeding. These patents claimed the process for breeding as well as the seeds, plants and edible parts of the plants. In decision G1/08, the EBoA ruled that a non-microbiological process for the production of plants which contains or consists of the steps of sexually crossing the whole genomes of plants and of subsequently selecting plants is in principle excluded from patentability as being ‘essentially biological’ in the sense of Article 53b of the European Patent Convention (EPC) and Article 4(b) of Directive 98/44/EC on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions. However, the EBoA decision does not solve all legal questions and underlying problems regarding conventional breeding. For example, in May 2011 the EPO granted a further patent on melons derived from conventional breeding (EP 1 962 578), in which products such as plants and fruits were regarded as inventions. Furthermore, in a case of animal breeding (EP 1257168), the EPO did confirm the patentability of the process for the selection of conventional breeding as well as breeding material (such as sperm cells). Does the Commission agree: that processes for the selection of breeding material and genetic resources (such as sperm cells, oocytes and plant material) are not to be patented when used in conventional breeding? that products derived from conventional breeding should fall under the exclusion of Article 4(b) of Directive 98/44/EC? that processes used in conventional plant breeding are essentially biological processes in the sense of Article 2(2) of Directive 98/44/EC, and are therefore non-patentable under the terms of Article 4(b) of the same Directive and Rule 28 of the EPC implementing regulations? Tabled: 19.4.2012 Forwarded: 23.4.2012 Deadline for reply: 30.4.2012 899559.EN PE 475.604 .

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