PHM-Exch> Unhealthy effects of FTAs

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Meghana Bahar meghana at haiap.org

Unhealthy effects of FTAs

Patralekha Chatterjee

Sept.14 : Much has been said about the "informal ministerial" meeting of key
members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Delhi last week and India’s
contribution towards reenergising the Doha Round. In contrast, there is
little discussion about the raft of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs)
which India is currently negotiating with several industrialised countries
and powerful regional blocs including Japan and the European Union (EU).
Beyond the charmed circle of the negotiators — the commerce and trade
bureaucracies — and industry lobby groups, few know what is being
negotiated, what is really at stake and what is being traded off for
anticipated gains.

Transparency in the FTA process is vital because FTAs have become prominent
trade policy strategies of the Government of India and bilateral agreements
are being negotiated outside the parameters of international trade
mechanisms endorsed by the WTO.

The point was made vigorously at the recent National Consultation on India’s
FTAs in Delhi. The consultation was organised by the Forum of FTAs, a
coalition of over 70 civil society groups. India has already carried out 10
rounds of negotiations with Japan, six rounds with the EU and three rounds
with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which includes Switzerland,
Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein as its members.

One of the biggest concerns is the likely impact of FTAs on access to
medicines. Enthusiasts of free trade root for bilateral trade negotiations
as they are usually concluded in a much shorter time frame than the WTO
process.

India has fought hard to include public health safeguards in its patent law
which patients groups are using to challenge patents on key medicines.
However, many of these gains are now at risk. FTAs are likely to contain
provisions creating greater monopolies on medicines, providing for stricter
enforcement of intellectual property rights, pointed out a spokesperson of
Medecin Sans Frontieres’ Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines during
the discussion.

FTAs, particularly with developed countries, typically push for standards
that go far beyond even those negotiated by developing countries at the WTO.
In some cases, the terms are even harsher than those practised within the
developed world, warn the Forum Against FTAs.

The consultation drew attention to the worrying terms of FTAs such as the
extension of patents beyond 20 years; data exclusivity, which delays the
entry of a generic medicine in a market by 10-15 years even after the expiry
of a patent; and the patent-registration linkage, which prevents the
registration of a generic manufacturer before the expiry of patent.

The impact of these FTAs on health has been seen in other developing and
least developed countries that have signed FTAs in the past. One example,
"Jordan was required under the terms of its WTO accession package and its
FTA with the US to introduce TRIPS-plus rules. Medicine prices have
increased drastically, and TRIPS-plus rules were partly responsible for this
increase. Furthermore, stricter levels of intellectual property protection
have conferred few benefits with respect to foreign direct investment,
domestic research and development, or accelerating introduction of new,
effective medicines", Oxfam pointed out in a March 2007 report.

TRIPS stands for Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The
TRIPS Agreement is part of a "package" to which those countries seeking WTO
membership have to adhere. TRIPS-PLUS obligations go beyond those imposed by
the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights.

The issues linking free trade agreements, the right to health and access to
medicines that came up during the consultation were brought up in a recent
report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health. "Many countries
have signed or are currently engaged in negotiations on extensive trade
agreements, including bilateral investment treaties, Free Trade Agreements,
economic partnership agreements etc. Such agreements have extensive
implications for pharmaceutical patent protection, which can directly impact
access to medicines. Some developed countries, for example, have negotiated
FTAs which reflect their standard of intellectual property protection. These
agreements are usually negotiated with little transparency or participation
from the public and often establish TRIPS-plus provision. These provisions
undermine the safeguards and flexibilities that developing countries sought
to preserve under TRIPs", notes a March 2009 report by eminent Indian
lawyer, Anand Grover, currently the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to
health. Studies indicate that TRIPS-plus standards increase medicine prices
as they delay or restrict the introduction of generic competition.

"As FTAs can directly affect access to medicines. There is a need for
countries to assess multilateral and bilateral trade agreements for
potential health violations and that all stages of negotiations remain open
and transparent", the report said.

India’s bilateral FTAs will impact this country and much of the developing
world. Over 90 per cent of patients on life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs
in low and middle income countries use generic drugs made in India and 57
per cent of medicine exports from India go to developing countries.

Public interest groups such as Lawyers’ Collective, Medecin Sans Frontieres
and Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative who participated in the
Consultation want transparency and democratic process in ongoing FTA
negotiations. "When the world is moving towards a rules-based trading
system, what is traded off must be in the public domain. FTAs must have
minimum standards of public consultations. To what extent is Parliament
taken into confidence during such negotiations? Are FTAs getting on to the
agenda of even the National Development Council when chief ministers of
different states meet? Are the chief ministers taken into confidence when
FTAs are negotiated though a lot of the resultant action will take place in
the states", asks a spokesperson of the Access to Information Programme in
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

Activists warn that in the absence of minimum standards of public
consultation on critical policy matters in the FTAs, they may test the Right
to Information Act which requires sharing of information on a proactive
basis.

Patralekha Chatterjee writes on contemporary development issues, and can be
contacted at patralekha.chatterjee at gmail.com

SOURCE LINK:
http://www.asianage.com/presentation/leftnavigation/opinion/op-ed/unhealthy-effects-of-ftas.aspx
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