Policy recommendations

  • In its trade and industrial policies, the EU should take account of its development and public health commitments. Possible impact on developing countries of actions in the trade and industry domains should be assessed thoroughly and impact studies of civil society should be taken into account in a serious manner. The current belief in IPR as a ‘tool for development’ and the policy coherence in this field’ should be reassessed objectively and discussed with civil society in a transparent manner.
  • The European Union should refrain from pursuing the inclusion of TRIPS+, WTO+ and even EU+ provisions designed to protect intellectual property rights in any bilateral or multilateral trade agreements with developing countries (including those not defined as LDCs).
  • The EU should not limit, and instead encourage, the efforts of developing countries to use (TRIPS) flexibilities as a public health strategy. In addition it should lobby for the compulsory licence for developing countries without production facilities to be made valid for all similar countries at once (including non-LDC developing countries) and (considering the limits) for other initiatives to be developed, such as patent pools. The EU should actively stand up to European pharmaceutical companies that try to limit the use of compulsory licensing in developing countries.
  • The EU should ensure its interests in enforcement and developments in ACTA will not hamper trade in generic medicine or lead to any more seizures of these. In particular it should not demand adoption of current EU or EU+ enforcement rules, such as border measures, to be introduced in developing countries. 
  • The European Parliament should adopt a Resolution on these recommendations with a view to affirming the EC’s commitments to Health and Development, as well as demand  its right of access to all negotiation documents (such as ACTA) and the use of co-decision power to prevent the EU from pursuing agreements that can damage public health.

 

Case: TRIPS & Access to Medicines

22-02-2009 Coherence star for MEPs Helmuth Markov and Thijs Berman

For their contribution as chairpersons' to the Expert meeting on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) which are included in the EU - CAN Association Agreement, Helmuth Markov (GUE-NGL) and Thijs Berman (PSE) have earned a coherence star on this website.

The EU Coherence Programme in cooperation with Health Action International organised an expert meeting on the EU CAN Association Agreements, which include clauses on Intellectual property rights that are potentially harmful to peoples access to generic medicines in the (former) Andean Community.

The European Union (EU) and the countries of the (former) Andean Community (CAN) Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru - are in the process of negotiating Association Agreements with the EU. Three rounds of negotiations have taken place since September 2007. Since the CAN community broke up last December, as a result of internal disagreement relating to Intellectual Property Rights provisions, it now seems the negotiations will proceed bilaterally. The agreements will include sections on political interaction, cooperation and trade. The commercial pillar of the agreements will include a chapter on intellectual property rights (IPRs). IPRs are highly controversial for public health as they pose barriers to access to essential medicines, which can be particularly detrimental in developing countries.

In cooperation with Health Action International (HAI), the EU Coherence Programme organised this expert meeting in order to provide more in-depth information on the potentially negative effects of the proposed IPR provisions on access to medicines for the people of the Andean community. Moreover, the aim of the meeting was to discuss, among key stakeholders, policy recommendations resulting from case studies and impact reports that aim to avoid these adverse effects. The focus was on Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) matters, and contentious issues resulting from the negotiations as they have been conducted so far.

The expertise of people on the ground was crucial for this expert meeting. Therefore, Mr. German Holguin, Director of NGO Mision Salud, agreed to speak on behalf of the CAN countries, along with Mr Xavier Seuba, of the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, who was the first to analyse the intellectual property rights provisions in the European Commissions (EC) proposal. On behalf of the EU Institutions, a number of experts from the European Commission as well as a number of closely involved MEPs participated. The meeting was presided by MEP Thijs Berman (PSE), vice-president of the development committee of the EP, together with MEP Helmuth Markov (GUE/NGL), president of the EPs international trade committee.

More information?

For a report on the outcomes of the expert meeting, please see the news item " MEPs: we will do everything in our power to make sure IPR provisions do not hinder access to medicines in Andean countries! on our homepage!

Click here for 

Xavier Seubas analysis of the EC proposal

Visit the website of MEP Thijs Berman (PSE)

Visit the website of MEP Helmuth Markov (GUE-NGL)

S&D and GUE/NGL were monitored as fair here.