ECIPE Seminar: Trade and Patents – Taking Stock of an Export Waiver in Supplementary Patent Certificates

The value added created by Europe’s trade is far higher in IP-intensive sectors than elsewhere. Yet the same sectors also tend to be neglected when key priorities of trade and commercial policy are established. Furthermore, for many IP intensive sectors, the effective exclusivity granted by patents have gradually been eroded, and now they are at risk of being more eroded still. An idea drafted by the European Commission suggest that a new export waiver should be introduced in the system of Supplementary Patent Certificates, a policy intended to restore patent terms for products that have required long market approval processes.

Would an export waiver materially improve Europe’s exports – or do they risk lower high value added output?

Would they come with dynamic effects that could include higher prices in Europe?