STATEMENT BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MEMBER STATES of 17 December 1973 concerning the removal of legal barriers to the linking-up of undertakings

In connection with the Council Resolution on industrial policy, the representatives of the governments of the Member States of the European Communities undertake: - to do their utmost to complete promptly the work on the Agreement on transnational mergers;

- to conclude without delay the work on the convention on the effects of bankruptcy;

- to do everything necessary to ensure that the European Patent Convention signed in Munich on 5 October 1973, and the Convention on the European Patent for the Common Market which is due to be signed in June 1974 come into force in time for the European Patent Office to start its activities in 1976.