Amendments to NOC Regulations Come into Force

On June 25, 2008, the Government of Canada published the Regulations Amending the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations in Canada Gazette Part II. The amendments (Amending Regulations) were registered and came into force on June 12, 2008. As previously reported in E-TIPS® ("Proposed Amendments to NOC Regulations Change Patent Listing Requirements Established by Federal Court of Appeal", Vol 6, No 22, May 7, 2008), the Government proposed the Amending Regulations to remove the requirement that a patent submitted for listing on Canada's patent register before June 17, 2006, must be "relevant" to the submission for a notice of compliance (NOC) to which the patent relates. In effect, the Amending Regulations undo the results of the decision of the Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal in Wyeth Canada and Wyeth v Ratiopharm Inc and The Minister of Health, 2007 FC 340, rev'd 2007 FCA 264. A more detailed discussion of the Amending Regulations can be found by following this link. For the full text of the Amending Regulations, see: http://gazetteducanada.gc.ca/partII/2008/20080625/html/sor211-e.html Summary by: Nick Wong