Safety Net For Safeners?

In the EU it is possible to obtain a supplementary protection certificate (SPC) for 'active substances' of a plant protection product (PPP) and 'active ingredients' of a medicinal product extending the protection afforded to such products beyond the patent term. Two distinct but related EC Regulations govern the grant of SPCs – Regulation No 1610/96 (the PPP SPC Regulation) and Regulation No. 469/2009 (the Medicinal Product SPC Regulation). It is generally accepted that equivalent provisions in the SPC Regulations should be interpreted in the same way but is this assumption correct?

The CJEU has considered the question of what is meant by 'product' and 'active ingredient' in the Medicinal Product SPC Regulation in a number of cases. The equivalent terms - 'product' and 'active substance' - in the PPP SPC Regulation have recently been considered by the CJEU in its decision of 19 June 2014 in the Bayer CropScience reference from the German Federal Patent Court in case