§ Lord Gainfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether patented agricultural chemicals which have to pass safety tests before they receive marketing approval should be eligible for Supplementary Protection Certificates of the kind proposed by the EC Commission for medicinal products.
Viscount AstorThe Government accept that patent term erosion in the agrochemical industry is similar to that for pharmaceuticals and that 71WA agrochemical patents should have similar supplementary protection. We will therefore seek either amendment of the Commission's proposal to cover agrochemicals or the introduction of a new proposal to that effect.