The German Federal Supreme Court refers Biotech Questions to European Court of Justice

The German Federal Supreme Court (BGH) intends to refer several questions relating to Art. 6 of the Biotech Patent Directive to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). At issue is the interpretation of the terms "human embryos" and "commercial purposes". In the opinion of the German Federal Supreme Court, Art. 6 of the Directive is ambiguous in several respects. First, there is the question of how the Directive defines the term "human embryos". It remains to be decided whether a stem cell obtained from a blastocyst (a particular developmental stage of a fertilized egg) is also to be regarded as an embryo in the sense of the Directive, even though it does not have the ability to further develop into a human individual. If necessary, it will also to be decided whether a blastocyst as such is an embryo in the sense of the Directive.