On Thursday 22 May, negotiators from the European Parliament and the EU Council reached an initial agreement on one of the texts in the patent package: compulsory licences. These allow a company to use a patent without its holder’s authorisation in emergency situations. The issue of compulsory licences came to the fore at the time of the Covid-19 vaccine crisis. The mechanism already exists at national level, but a European licence issued by the Commission will avoid fragmentation when needs are cross-border.
Both Parliament and the EU Council wanted to stress that voluntary licences should be favoured over compulsory licences. The latter should only be used as a last resort. However, the co-legislators specified that a voluntary licence had to be concluded within a reasonable period, failing which a compulsory licence could be activated. This is to avoid endless negotiations.
The agreement reached retains a key element requested by the Member States: no company should be forced to disclose its trade secrets.
The gas, semi-conductor and defence product sectors are excluded from the text, meaning that the European Commission cannot issue compulsory licences for producing these goods. However, the agreement provides for the possibility of doing so for semi-conductors that power ventilators. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)