ABSTRACT
The directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions (or Biopatent directive 98/44/EC) has been judged one of the most hotly contested pieces of EU legislation ever. Rapid politicisation of ethical concerns made the shaping of this initially rather technical directive particularly contentious (Earnshaw and Judge 1995, Kamstra et al. 2002). The Dutch government delegation initially classified as being particularly active in the negotiation phases. However, due to a parliamentary reservation, it voted against adoption of the directive in the final Council meeting where the text was passed with a qualified majority of delegations voting in favour.
