Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 2.djvu/440

 98 STAT. 1600

Prohibition.

Federal Register, publication. Hearing.

Federal Register, publication.

Records.

21 USC 301.

PUBLIC LAW 98-417—SEPT. 24, 1984

period, the Secretary shall, in accordance with regulations promulgated by the Secretary determine if the applicant acted with due diligence during the applicable regulatory review period. The Secretary shall make such determination not later than ninety days after the receipt of such a petition. The Secretary may not delegate the authority to make the determination prescribed by this subparagraph to an office below the Office of the Commissioner of Food and Drugs. "(ii) The Secretary shall notify the Commissioner of the determination and shall publish in the Federal Register a notice of such determination together with the factual and legal basis for such determination. Any interested person may request, within the sixtyday period beginning on the publication of a determination, the Secretary to hold an informal hearing on the determination. If such a request is made within such period, the Secretary shall hold such hearing not later than thirty days after the date of the request, or at the request of the person making the request, not later than sixty days after such date. The Secretary shall provide notice of the hearing to the owner of the patent involved and to any interested person and provide the owner and any interested person an opportunity to participate in the hearing. Within thirty days after the completion of the hearing, the Secretary shall affirm or revise the determination which was the subject of the hearing and notify the Commissioner of any revision of the determination and shall publish any such revision in the Federal Register. "(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2)(B), the term 'due diligence' means that degree of attention, continuous directed effort, and timeliness as may reasonably be expected from, and are ordinarily exercised by, a person during a regulatory review period. "(4) An application for the extension of the term of a patent is subject to the disclosure requirements prescribed by the Commissioner. "(e)(1) A determination that a patent is eligible for extension may be made by the Commissioner solely on the basis of the representations contained in the application for the extension. If the Commissioner determines that a patent is eligible for extension under subsection (a) and that the requirements of subsection (d) have been complied with, the Commissioner shall issue to the applicant for the extension of the term of the patent a certificate of extension, under seal, for the period prescribed by subsection (c). Such certificate shall be recorded in the official file of the patent and shall be considered as part of the original patent. "(2) If the term of a patent for which an application has been submitted under subsection (d) would expire before a certificate of extension is issued or denied under paragraph (1) respecting the application, the Commissioner shall extend, until such determination is made, the term of the patent for periods of up to one year if he determines that the patent is eligible for extension. "(f) For purposes of this section: "(1) The term 'product' means: "(A) A human drug product. "(B) Any medical device, food additive, or color additive subject to regulation under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. "(2) The term 'human drug product' means the active ingredient of a new drug, antibiotic drug, or human biological product (as those terms are used in the Federal Food, Drug, and

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