A supplementary protection certificate (SPC) grants an extension in time to the protection conferred by a patent relating to certain products that require expensive and protracted procedures for marketing authorisation, most notably pharmaceuticals but also plant protection products. The legal basis for SPCs is provided by EU regulations 469/2009/EC, for pharmaceutical products, and 1610/96/EEC, for plant protection products. In order to get an SPC, there must be a basic patent covering the product authorised for marketing.