India, EU fixes generic drugs dispute with interim settlement

29 Jul 2011 Evaluate

India and European Union (EU) has reached an interim agreement on preventing seizures of generic drugs on EU soil. However, if EU parliament rejects the agreement then Indian government will reopen the dispute. India raised this issue in World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2010, after EU halting its shipments and inspection of generic drugs in transit to developing countries. Few shipments were destroyed or turned away rather than allowed to continue to their final destination.

Rajeev Kher, India’s top negotiator at the WTO said India had agreed to resolve the dispute with the EU, its largest trading partner, in December but in subsequent months it has been trying to iron out differences on how EU customs officials should treat Indian pharmaceuticals. Guidelines will now be issued to officials in all the EU's 27 states on letting Indian drugs pass. The EU will also push for a new regulation in its parliament.  Rajeev Kher said 'We have agreed to an interim settlement with the EU. We will wait for the final settlement.' 'We have not lost our right to agitate the matter again.' he added.

India and EU are in process to finish their free trade agreement (FTA), and generic drugs have become a hot-button issue in trade relations between India and the EU, who are working to conclude a free trade deal this year. Activists accuse both sides of jeopardizing India's thriving generic drugs by agreeing to stricter intellectual property rules in the FTA.

The EU customs official were seizing Indian shipments of generic drugs as they were breaking the patent laws on EU soil, such first incident occurred in December 2008, when Dutch customs official halted shipment of blood pressure drugs. Now medicines can only be seized if there is a 'substantial likelihood' that the drugs will be smuggled into the EU as opposed to shipped onwards to developing countries such as Brazil or in Africa where such patents do not apply, Rajeev Kher said.

The seizure of drugs by EU provoked protesters to say that developed nations were supporting drugs companies under the guise of pursuing counterfeits at the expense of poor people’s access to cheap medicine. India has made it clear that it will not do anything to put Indian pharmaceutical trade in danger, including in a trade deal.  Rajeev Kher said India will now wait for what kind of regulation the European Union will present in its parliament to replace existing practices. Trade officials have seen a draft, which is not strong enough to satisfy India's requirements, he added.

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