Study on the Options for a Unified Supplementary Protection Certificate (SPC) System in Europe (Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper, No. 23-09), 2022, XXXIV + 319
The study deals with the options for creating a unified procedure for examining or granting SPCs on the basis of a regional application, and to this effect considers primarily two options: a PCT model, where a single authority examines a regional application for an SPC by drafting a single examination report, but the NPOs decide whether to grant or refuse the certificate taking into account the report on hand; and an EPC model, where the decision-making power is transferred from the NPOs to the central body and the single authority decides whether a certificate shall be granted or refused. The analysis considers the institutional options for implementing the two models, their respective advantages and drawbacks, their implications for judicial review as well as possible safeguards to mitigate the concerns of some NPOs that the unified procedure could result in lowering the bar for granting certificates currently ensured by their practice.
