§ Q10. Mr. Dalyellasked the Prime Minister if he is satisfied with the coordination between the Foreign Office, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the Department of Health and Social Security in promoting the harmonisation of patent laws in relation to medicines and drugs on a European basis, in the light of the National Economic Development Office Report on the Pharmaceutical Industry; and if he will make a statement.
§ The Prime MinisterYes. The draft conventions for the establishment of a European system for granting patents and for the establishment of a unitary patent effective in all countries of the European Economic Community are now in an advanced stage of preparation, and will be the subject of diplomatic conferences in the autumn of 1973 and spring of 1974. The unitary patent will cover Pharmaceuticals and will be in accord with the desire expressed in the NEDO Report that the United Kingdom should388W have a strong patent system on a par with those in other industrialised countries.