India has joined hands with Brazil, South Africa, China and Indonesia at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in order to put pressure on the bloc to make necessary amendments, as they failed to convince the European Union (EU) to change the new directive on trademark protection, which could result in possible restrictions on legitimate shipments of goods, in particular essential medicines.
India is concerned that the new law violated various provisions of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of the WTO. The new law could be a fresh attempt to crack down on cheap generics from India on way to markets in Latin America and Africa as large pharmaceutical companies, as many of them based in the EU, feel threatened by the country’s cheap but high-quality medicines.
The countries are worried that the stringent enforcement provisions in the new trademark legislation implemented by the EU on March 23 that could allow EU member state customs authorities to seize goods while in transit without sufficient evidence of trademark violation. As per the present law, pharmaceutical consignments can be confiscated if these contain items with brand names or logos similar to those registered as trademarks by other companies in the EU.