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A Breather For Generic Lobby

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The European Parliament on Wednesday rejected the proposal for an Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), which, if passed, could have had an adverse impact on generic medicine exports from countries such as India through European ports. Even in the absence of a law similar to ACTA, there were several instances when genuine Indian medicines in transit got confiscated in European ports on grounds of intellectual property violations. For long, India has been lobbying hard for the smooth passage of Indian generic medicines to developing countries in Africa and Latin America through European ports of transit. Developing nations in Asia, Latin America and Africa had expressed concern over provisions of the proposed ACTA as they feared the movement of genuine low-cost medicines through Europe could get affected.     Welcoming the European Parliament decision, International medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said the agreement could have limited access to quality generic medicines. "We are relieved that the EU Parliament has struck down ACTA", said Aziz ur Rehman, Intellectual Property Advisor for the MSF Access Campaign. "The way it was written, ACTA would have given an unfair advantage to patented medicines, and restricted access to affordable generic medicines to the detriment of patients and treatment providers alike." ACTA was purported to be a shield against counterfeiting across a number of industries, including medicines, where it was held up as a means of blocking potentially harmful ‘counterfeit' medicines. MSF strongly supports efforts to ensure that generics meet accepted international standards. However, ACTA's overbroad definition of ‘counterfeiting' and its excessive enforcement provisions left too much room for error. Legitimately produced generic medicines could have been seized and detained, hindering access for people who rely on these medicines to survive, an MSF statement said. The stringent provisions in ACTA would also have targeted third parties — including treatment providers like MSF – by exposing them to the risk of punitive action in trademark and patent infringement allegations, it added. Following the rejection of ACTA, the European Commission should review similarly harmful intellectual property provisions being pursued in other agreements, including in free trade negotiations. One such current negotiation is with India, one of the world's biggest exporters of generic medicines, often referred to as ‘the pharmacy of the developing world', the statement said.