The Brazilian Government has issued a Provisional Decree effecting a temporary amendment to the Patent Law. The decree will remain in effect for thirty days but can be renewed indefinitely unless it is rejected by the Brazilian Congress. The decree affects the implementation of recent changes in Brazilian patent law relating to patent protection for chemical and pharmaceutical products. In particular, the decree delays the grant of patents on pharmaceutical and chemical product inventions on "black box" applications filed between January 1, 1995 (the date on which TRIPS came into effect) and May 14, 1997 (the date on which the new Brazilian Patent Law came into effect) until December 31, 2004, and effectively precludes the grant of patents for these classes of subject matter in any other applications filed before January 1, 1995, unless they were filed as pipeline applications (see our June 1996 Newsletter (N.S. 187). Additionally the decree orders the rejection of applications directed to processes filed prior to May 14, 1997, and makes the grant of patents for pharmaceutical products and processes subject to approval of the health authorities.