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 ECs 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

23-03-2011 New study ones again demonstrates the impact of TRIPs on access to medicine

A policy guide published by the WHO and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), which addresses the impact of TRIPS and discusses how to improve access to medicines for the most vulnerable citizens throughout the world.

Access to essential medicines and health technologies is a huge public health challenge. In many developing countries the majority of the poor lack any form of social protection and health systems are under-resourced not only in terms of medical personal but also in relation to medicines available.

Currently, many regional and bilateral trade agreements are negotiated to further strengthen and prolong patent regimes beyond the TRIPS standards. but this erosion of TRIPS flexibilities result in raising prices of medicines; depriving developing countries from retaining TRIPS’s flexibilities; delaying the introduction of generic medicines for additional periods; and discouraging generic competitions. These are all negative effects on access to medicines in less resourceful partners and is in conflict with the EU’s development policy which prioritises access to affordable medicines for developing countries. TRIPS brought many fundamental changes to the global regulation of intellectual property, it particularly troubled one of the most fundamental rights, the universal right to human health. This incoherence is also further more elaborately explained in our case study.

At the end of this policy guide some recommendations are given, among which are:
- Intellectual property laws cannot be viewed in isolation from other national laws and policies;
- Investment and capacity-building in those heavily involved in negotiating and delivering commitments related to trade, health and intellectual property are vital;
- Countries must view public health considerations as paramount to any other benefits which might be offered during the course of bilateral trade
- Countries in the Region need to be more proactive in setting the agenda for the global regulation of intellectual property.

Fair Politics encourages initiatives for increasing the coherence of different policies with EU’s development policy. This report is a step towards this, as it indicates the negative impact of TRIPS on developing countries.