My noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Baroness Wilcox has today made the following statement:

I will be attending the extraordinary EU Competitiveness Council on 10 November, where the Belgian presidency aim to achieve a unanimous political agreement to the approach they have put forward on the Commission proposal for an EU patent language regulation. The Belgian presidency has suggested amendments to the language proposal in an attempt to overcome the concerns of some member states.

The Government intend to support the Commission proposal, including the presidency amendments if necessary.