High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Directive 98/44/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 1998 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions is a European Union directive in the field of patent law, made under the internal market provisions of the Treaty of Rome. It was intended to harmonize the laws of Member States regarding the patentability of biotechnological inventions, including plant varieties (as legally defined) and human genes.