20/02/2017 (Agence Europe) – The Council of Ministers of the EU adopted conclusions on Monday 20 February in which it calls on the Commission to present a report in the course of 2017 on the development and implications of patent law in the field of biotechnology and genetic engineering, so as to address remaining issues identified by the expert group that may need to be clarified in order to increase certainty in this field (see EUROPE 11720). The Council acknowledges that recent decisions on Tomatoes II and Broccoli II run counter to provisions in some member states. With the adoption of Directive 98/44/EC on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions, the intention of the EU legislator was to exclude from patentability products obtained through essentially biological processes, the Council notes. It welcomes the recent Commission notice which, it says, contributes to restoring an appropriate balance between patent-related rights and plant variety rights. (LC)