Luxembourg Presidency's Priorities Include IP Issues, Software Patent Directive

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

05 January 2005

Following its assumption of the EU presidency on January 1, the Luxembourg government has outlined some of its priorities for the coming six months.

In addition to inheriting from the outgoing Dutch presidency the political hot potato of negotiations with Turkey over the country's planned entry to the European bloc, Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker has expressed a desire to examine the rules of operation of the Stability and Growth Pact, and to re-visit the issues of the future funding of the EU, and the Lisbon Agenda, which was intended to turn the EU into the world's most dynamic economy by 2010.

Other key issues, according to the Luxembourg Presidency's statement of priorities, include promoting dossiers on intellectual and industrial property and examining whether the conditions are right for relaunching the dossier on the Community patent.

With regard to the latter issue, the Luxembourg authorities stated that they are "aware that no advantageous economic alternative to this project, currently in deadlock, exists", adding that:

"The proposal for a directive on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions must also be concluded successfully in 2005."

Meanwhile, with regard to the recognition of professional services and qualifications, the statement of priorities observed that:

"(Although) the proposal for a directive on the internal market for services is a key initiative in terms of European economic growth, it has nevertheless caused a great deal of misunderstanding. The Luxembourg Presidency will endeavour to re-examine this proposal in a more objective light by delimiting the scope of the directive and specifying the range of the principle of the country of origin within this context."

"The proposal for a directive on professional qualifications, which is currently in second reading at the European Parliament, could be adopted under the Luxembourg Presidency. This directive, which allows strict control of qualifications in the case of cross-border services, will apply in parallel to the directive on services."

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