Canada’s Senate passes Bill on pharma patent changes
The Senate of Canada has passed Bill C-30, which will change Canada’s pharma patent regulations including by allowing patent owners to recover patent term lost due to regulatory delays.
Passed on Thursday, May 11, the Bill will implement the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
The Bill will need to be given Royal Assent by the Governor General before it becomes law.
The CETA text includes a requirement to provide restoration of patent term, similar to the EU’s system of supplementary protection certificates.
This will allow up to a two-year restoration of patent term for regulatory delays.
Before this Bill, Canada has not had such system in place.
The Senate said in its Report of the Committee that the Bill had been examined and is passed without amendment, but that it will continue to be observed.
There are nine observations for consideration by the government, including on the development of an implementation strategy and the level of transparency regarding government policy on CETA.