Revision of European patent translations to include chemical pharmaceutical product claims: a change of direction?

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The present document provides an analysis of the issue of revised European translations to add product claims, focusing on recent Order no. 130/12 of Commercial Court no. 4 of Barcelona and its implications.
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1. Introduction
One of the main problems in Spanish patent law in recent years has been the effects on chemical-pharmaceutical patents of the entry into force of the Agreement on the aspects of intellectual property rights related to commerce, of 15 April 1994 (ADPIC).
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As is well known, in Spanish law inventions of chemical and pharmaceutical products were not patentable before 7 October 1992 [First Transitional Provision of the 1986 Patent Law, Instrument of 10 July 1986, on adhesion to the European Patent Convention (EPC) and Transitory Provision of Royal Decree 244/1986, of 27 November 1986, on EPC application in Spain]. This situation led the European Patent Office (EPO) to take into account the ban on the patentability of chemical-pharmaceutical products in Spain until 1992 and recommend applicants for European patents which included product claims to draft a specific set of claims for Spain (Communication of the President of the EPO of 13 May 1992).