EPLAW PATENT BLOG

EU – Commission to register ‘Right to Cure’ initiative

Posted: August 22nd, 2020

European Citizens’ Initiative: Commission decides to register ‘Right to Cure’ initiative

“Today, the European Commission decided to register a European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) entitled ‘Right to Cure’. The organisers of the ECI call on the Union ‘to put public health before private profit [and] make anti-pandemic vaccines and treatments a global public good, freely accessible to everyone’.

“The ECI lists the following objectives:

Ensure that intellectual property rights, including patents, do not hamper the accessibility or availability of any future COVID-19 vaccine or treatment;
Ensure that EU legislation on data and market exclusivity does not limit the immediate effectiveness of compulsory licenses issued by Member States;
Introduce legal obligations for beneficiaries from EU funds to share COVID-19 health technology related knowledge, intellectual property and/or data in a technology or patent pool;
Introduce legal obligations for beneficiaries from EU funds regarding transparency on public contributions, production costs, as well as accessibility and affordability clauses combined with non-exclusive licenses.”

“The Commission considers that the ECI is legally admissible, as it meets the necessary conditions, and therefore decided to register it. The Commission has not analysed the substance of the ECI at this stage.”

The full press release can be read here.

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