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2023. October 25.

Decision 3434/2023. (X. 25.) AB on the annulment of a judicial decision

Decision number: IV/2062/2022
Subject of the case:

Constitutional complaint against the ruling No. Pfv.IV.21.464/2021/9 of the Curia (granting of a compulsory public health licence)

The Constitutional Court declared the contested rulings of the Curia, the Budapest-Capital Regional Court of Appeal, the Budapest-Capital Regional Court and the contested decision of the National Intellectual Property Office (SZTNH) to be contrary to the Fundamental Law and annulled them. In the case underlying the proceedings, the petitioner is the right-holder of a European patent validated in Hungary and registered by the SZTNH, which has been granted a marketing authorisation. At the time the decision was taken, the patented product was the only patent-protected medicine containing the active substance remdesivir that was fully indicated by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of adults and adolescents with coronavirus disease who suffer from pneumonia and require supplementary oxygen therapy. A pharmaceutical company in Hungary submitted a request to the SZTNH for a public health forced permit on using the patent domestically, and the SZTNH granted the permit. The petitioner filed an application for a modification of the decision of the SZTNH. The Budapest-Capital Regional Court rejected the application for modification, the Budapest-Capital Regional Court of Appeal upheld the ruling of the court of first instance, and the Curia upheld the final ruling. In the petitioner’s view, the courts and the authority violated its right to a fair administrative procedure by failing to recognise its status as a client. In its decision, the Constitutional Court found that the petitioner’s fundamental right to a fair hearing before the SZTNH was indeed violated due to the non-recognition of its client status in the proceedings before the SZTNH, and that this was not recognised by the ordinary courts. Although the Curia found that the petitioner had client status, it failed to remedy the injury, thus the petitioner’s right to legal remedy was also violated during the court proceedings. In the light of this, the Constitutional Court annulled the decisions of the SZTNH and the challenged court rulings.