PHM-Exch> Negotiators meet today in Brussels - April deadline for the conclusion of the India EU Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement

[Leena Menghaney]

"As negotiators meet today in Brussels to hammer out the last details of the
EU-India Free Trade Agreement, we urge them to learn the lessons of past
trade deals gone wrong for access to medicines, and not accept the harmful
provisions that would prevent India from protecting its public health
measures.

 

I hope the negotiators today really take a moment to stop and think about
the millions of lives their decisions will impact. People – not just in
India, but right across the developing world – need the access to affordable
medicines that India provides, and the provisions in the agreement as it
currently stands would slowly choke off that lifeline.

 

We’re requesting the Indian Commerce Minister, Mr. Anand Sharma and the
negotiators – don’t include these provisions that will trade away so many
lives before you sign on the dotted line.”

 

- Dr Jennifer Cohn, Medical Director, Médecins Sans Frontières Access
Campaign

 

Background: As the negotiations have progressed in recent years, certain
provisions damaging to access to medicines have been removed from the
proposed deal, including, for example, attempts to extend the duration of
patents. However, the intellectual property (IP) enforcement and investment
provisions are still seriously concerning, particularly as an early April
deadline to sign the agreement draws ever nearer.

 

Leaked text of the IP enforcement provisions are widely available on the
internet. See http://keionline.org/node/1681

 

Enforcement provisions could potentially block the export of generic
medicines from India – a lifeline for millions of people across the
developing world. By allowing medicines to be delayed, seized, detained and
destroyed, enforcement provisions would open the door to abusive practices
from multinational corporations. They could also draw in third parties,
including suppliers of active pharmaceutical ingredients used to produce
generic medicines and treatment providers like MSF, potentially embroiling
them in court cases simply for buying or distributing generic medicines. See
attached MSF Briefing Document, January 2013 - "The Enforcement Provisions
of the the EU-INDIA FTA, Implications for Access  to Medicines". 

 

Measures on investment could see the Indian government sued by multinational
companies for billions of dollars in private arbitration panels if national
laws, policies, court decisions or other actions are perceived to interfere
with their investments – for example, if an Indian patent office rejects or
overrides a patent on a medicine to increase access. 

 

IP and investment measures are deemed concerning enough for an Indian
Parliamentary Standing Committee to have decided to examine the impact of
free trade agreements on access to medicines. Worryingly, Indian negotiators
may chose to concede, hastily conclude the talks and rush signing the
agreement – which will become binding and set a precedent for future trade
agreements – before the parliamentary review and recommendations are
concluded.

 

 

Manager (India)

Access Campaign

Medecins Sans Frontieres

First Floor, C 236 Defence Colony, New Delhi, 110 024

Tel: +91 11 46573730, 

Telefax: +91 11 46573731

 

 

 

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