PHA-Exch> WHO angry at seizure by Dutch of HIV drug shipment (2)

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Brian Pazvakavambwa PazvakavambwaB at zw.afro.who.int


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Economy/India-may-drag-EU-to-WTO-drugs-issue/articleshow/4316583.cms

THE ECONOMIC TIMES (INDIA) : INDIA MAY DRAG EU TO WTO ON SEIZURE OF DRUGS IN
TRANSIT

If the European Union does not allow Indian drugs to transit through its
customs even after bilateral negotiations, New Delhi will drag Brussels to
the World Trade Organization (WTO) for re-dressal, government officials here
said. "We want the European Union to change its customs regulations so that
it does not allow seizure of in-transit drugs. If that does not happen, we
will fight it out at the WTO," a commerce department official said. EU
authorities have been seizing cargoes of drugs from India because they
believe these medicines infringe local patent laws while transiting from its
customs. However, under the rules on trade for public health in the Trips
agreement, a developing country is allowed to buy life-saving drugs from any
another country where they are generic or off-patent. So, even if the drug
is patented in a third country, under Trips, it has to allow the cargoes to
pass. Trips is an international agreement that guides a WTO member's patent
regime.
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