Andrej Vizjak, Slovenian Economy Minister, together with the Minister of Justice and Minister of Public Administration, today presented the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council before the EP Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) at the European Parliament in Brussels. Mr Vizjak highlighted the close connection between an effective legal framework for the protection of intellectual property rights and competitiveness.
“The Council is well aware of the importance the European Parliament attributes to a better patent system in Europe,” said the Minister in his speech. He especially stressed the need to boost efforts to set up an effective and modern European patent law system. “Our goal is to find consensus on a system which takes account of the needs of industry and which can also lead to an agreement on Community patents,” said Mr Vizjak. It is European industry, in particular, which is demanding the establishment of a less costly and more effective judiciary in the field of patents because the present national judicial system entails excessive expenses on account of the potential for multiple rulings on a single patent evaluated separately in every State.
In his speech, the Minister drew attention to the Directive on spare parts “on which the Council has not yet succeeded in reaching an agreement due to a lack of sufficient support for the original Commission proposal”. Mr Vizjak announced that the Slovenian Presidency would soon convene a meeting of the competent Council working party to study the options for reaching an agreement with the European Parliament.
In the field of company law, the Minister underlined simplification of existing Community legislation as a way to reduce administrative obstacles for companies, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Minister also pointed out that Slovenia supports the submission of a proposal on the new European private company statute at Community level.
