Article 52
Limitations on object
1 The following are exceptions to the previous article:
a) Discoveries, scientific theories and mathematical methods;
b) Materials or substances already existing in nature and nuclear materials;
Article 53
Limitations on patent
3 The following are also not patentable:
a) The human body, at the various stages of its formation and development and the simple decoding of one of its elements, including the discovery of a sequence or partial sequence of a gene, without prejudice to (1)(c) of the following article;
b) Plant and animal varieties and essentially biological processes for obtaining plants or animals;
Article 54
SPECIAL CASES OF PATENTABILITY
1 The following may be patented:
c) A new invention that involves an inventive step and is susceptible of industrial application relating to any isolated element of the human body or produced in any other way by a technical process, including a sequence or partial sequence of a gene, even though the structure of this element is identical to that of a natural element, provided that the industrial application of a sequence or partial sequence of a gene is expressly observed and specifically described in the patent application;
e) A biological material isolated from its natural environment or produced on the basis of a technical process, even if it pre-exists in a natural state;
f) An invention relating to a microbiological process or other technical processes or products obtained by means of these processes.
2 An essentially biological process for obtaining plants or animals is any process that consists wholly of natural phenomena, such as crossing or selection.
3 A microbiological process is any process involving or performed upon or resulting in microbiological material.
4 Biological material is any material that contains genetic information and is capable of reproducing itself or being reproduced in a biological system.