ABSTRACT
Many people are aware of the cultural, societal, economic and political changes brought about by the life sciences and information technology. Biotechnology, through its wide-ranging implications for food, health and the environment, as well as through the new knowledge it offers, will have a considerable impact on our way of life. The politicians of the European Union (EU) have spent a decade in debating, and finally agreeing, the terms of the Directive on the Legal Protection of Biotechnological Inventions 1998. The Directive aims to harmonize the criteria for the patentability of genetic material across the EU Member States and to facilitate a uniform application of the immorality exclusion in all Member States, so as to encourage investment in biotechnology. However, since the obligations of States of the EU regarding the moral criteria of patentability are conflicting between the EPC and the Directive, this is unlikely to occur.
