The repeated practice of European Community (EC) customs officials seizing shipments of medicines while in transit to developing countries on grounds of alleged intellectual property violations has once again come under sharp criticism in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Protest by developing countries came at a formal session of the TRIPS Council on 8 June. The developing countries expressed concern over the European Union's (EU) commitment to the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and the flexibilities inscribed in the TRIPS Agreement. They said that the EU was confusing legitimate generic medicines with counterfeit fakes. Furthermore, the EU was also undermining poor countries' ability to obtain cheaper generic medicines. India called upon the EC to urgently review their legislation and the actions of their national authorities and bring them in conformity with the letter and spirit of the TRIPS Agreement, the rules-based WTO system and the Doha Ministerial Declaration on Public Health.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
The World Health Organization’s report and draft resolution, Principles and Elements of National Legislation against Counterfeit Medical Products, presented at their annual meeting in January emphasises counterfeit medical products as the central health problem pertaining to quality, safety and efficacy of medicines, while paying scant attention to equally significant public health problems of falsely labelled, spurious and substandard drugs. This article discusses the ramifications of the International Medical Products Anti-Counterfeiting Taskforce (IMPACT), which wrote the report and resolution, and concludes that all role players should consider the negative implications of anti-counterfeiting actions, such as how the seizure of suspected intellectual property-infringing medicines in transit will affect access to medicines and the right to health, plus anti-counterfeiting legislation in various countries.
Counterfeit medicines were left off this year’s World Health Assembly agenda in May, and some countries suggested that the World Health Organization (WHO) was overstepping its mandate into intellectual property enforcement rather than public health. ‘WHO will not do the work of WIPO [World Intellectual Property Organization] or the WTO [World Trade Organization]’, by becoming involved in IP, WHO’s director general, Margaret Chan, has said. Nevertheless counterfeit medicines were felt by others to be an isssue, and appear in the medium-term strategic plan, which outlines WHO’s expected activities for the years 2008–2013.
On June 4, in Brussels, the European Union (EU) signed an interim economic partnership agreement with Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique and Swaziland against the wishes of Angola, Namibia, and South Africa. This has made imminent an acrimonious break-up of Africa's oldest customs union, the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Such an eventuality also raises doubts over the merger, scheduled for next year, of SACU and the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) into a single customs union under the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Signing any agreements that result in reductions in customs revenue could devastate the treasuries of the countries concerned. Lesotho earns about 60% of its state revenue through the SACU revenue-sharing arrangement, while Swaziland earns as much as 70%. Compensating for such loss through taxation could lead to a doubling of value-added tax rates and a tripling of corporate taxes.
Intellectual property (IP) issues were raised at the 124th Session of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board in January in respect of the following technical and health matters: pandemic influenza preparedness (sharing of influenza viruses, access to vaccines and other benefits); the role and responsibility of WHO in health research; counterfeit medical products; and a global strategy and plan of action for the Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and IP. A draft of the ‘WHO Strategy on Research for Health’ was presented.
India’s status as a top world supplier of generic medicines could be threatened by a free trade agreement its government is negotiating with the European Union (EU), according to this study. A draft of the proposed agreement put forward by EU officials recommends that it should incorporate a wide range of intellectual property issues. But at least two of the provisions in the draft could hamper access to affordable medicines for developing countries. One provision could require India to forbid the manufacture of generic versions of patented drugs for up to five years after the patents in question expire. Another provision would offer protection to test data submitted for the approval of branded medicines for a certain length of time (the precise duration has not yet been specified by EU officials). In effect, this would bar makers of generic drugs from using that data. The study notes that the EU recommendations go beyond the scope of the World Trade Organisation’s Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.
The Southern and Eastern African Trade, Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) has issued a statement in response to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) meetings and the 13th Summit of Heads of State and Government held from 28 May to 8 June 2009. It recommends that a moratorium be put in place on economic partnership agreements (EPA) negotiations until east and southern African (ESA) countries have instituted adequate institutional mechanisms to deal with trade liberalisation. ESA countries should instead focus on developing their regional markets. In light of the current global recession, they must reverse most of the commitments they have agreed under the International Monetary Fund/World Bank structural adjustment policies, the World Trade Organisation and the so-called interim EPAs to allow them to implement favourable home-grown policies that are in tandem with their development priorities.
This report provides impact assessments for the current round of world trade talks and the new wave of bilateral European Union trade deals. It shows how past trade liberalisations caused huge job losses in both Africa and Latin America, which continue to stifle hopes for sustainable development. Nevertheless, some politicians are still calling for the swift conclusion of the Doha round of negotiations at the World Trade Organization, although millions of jobs are at risk. The paper considers that free trade is no answer to the current economic crisis and rather undermines the possibility of decent work and of achieving sustainable development. It calls on states to retain the policy space and tools of control in order to govern markets, manage international trade and provide decent work for all. A new economic model should be made to prioritise the economic, social, political and health rights of people over the profits of transnational capital.
This paper details the extent of what it sees as a burgeoning ‘debt crisis’. With traditional sources of finance drying up, export markets collapsing and a range of other economic impacts, the threat of a renewed debt crisis is very real. Out of the 43 most vulnerable countries, 38 needed at least some debt cancellation to meet their people’s basic needs. Governments with large debt burdens, which are usually denominated in foreign currencies such as the dollar, may struggle to meet the repayment requirements and even default on their debts. Private capital flows to developing countries could fall to around US$165 billion in 2009. The paper recommends canceling more debts, responsible finance and a debt tribunal. Current debt relief initiatives are inflexible, entirely creditor-controlled and wholly inadequate to meet the challenge of the continuing debt crisis.
Applause broke out at the conclusion of the annual World Health Assembly as agreement was reached at the end of a five-year process to devise a plan for boosting research and development on and access to drugs needed by developing countries. Now with the full assembly’s approval, the focus turns to five-year implementation and as-yet unclear ways to pay for it. ‘This is a critical resolution, and we have come a long way to the place we are today,’ committee meeting Chair Stephen McKernan said. The approved global strategy and plan of action on public health, innovation and intellectual property aims by 2015 to train over 500,000 research and development workers, improve research infrastructure, national capacity and technology transfer, and lead to numerous other outcomes such as creating 10 public access compound libraries and 35 new health products (vaccines, diagnostics and medicines).