of Military Production, the Ministry of Interior or the Ministry of
Health, as required, copies of patent applications, with their annexes,
that relate to defense, military production, security matters or that
have a military, security or health significance, within 10 days from
the examination of the application, notifying the applicant thereof
within 7 days. The Minister of Defense, the Minister of Military
Production, the Minister of Interior or the Minister of Health, as might
be the case, may, within 90 days from the date of notification, oppose
the publication of the application acceptance.
Where the acceptance of the application is made public, the competent
Minister may oppose the procedure to grant a patent within 90 days from
the date of the publication, in the Patent Gazette, of the decision
to accept the patent application, if it appears that the application
relates to defense, military production, security or is of military,
security or health significance.
Opposition in the aforementioned cases shall stop the procedure of
granting the patent.
Article 18
A Drug Price Stability Fund, having a legal entity and reporting to
the Minister of Health and Population, shall be established to maintain
stability in the prices of drugs - other than export drugs - with a
view to achieve health development and to guarantee that drug prices
are not affected by incidental changes. The organization and resources
of the fund shall be determined by a decree to be issued by the President
of the Republic. Such resources shall include contributions from donor
states and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, as
agreed by the State.
Article 19
The grant of a patent is published after one year from the date of filing
the application and remains confidential during this period.
The patent is granted by a decision of the competent Minister or his
delegated official and shall be published in the Patent Gazette in
accordance with the provisions prescribed by the Regulations.
Article 20
After the publication of the acceptance of the patent application, any
person may consult the application and its supporting documents, and
any entries thereon in the patent register; and may obtain copies of
the above documents against the payment of a fee prescribed by the
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