Drug problem, Yahoo News
Mon, Sep 20 05:57 AM
Over a 16-month period that ended just over a year ago, European Union customs officials seized about 20 shipments of Indian generic drugs as they were passing through various European ports, especially Amsterdam and Hamburg, while going to Africa and Latin America. The reason? European Regulation 1383/2003 "concerning customs action against goods suspected of infringing certain intellectual property rights." The customs officials would suspect that a container with medicines inside — legal under the intellectual property regime in both the source and destination countries — would violate the stronger local patent laws, and they would thus open up and confiscate the shipments.
India's commerce ministry correctly identified this as an infringement on trade; reports on Saturday suggested that Indian negotiatiors are losing patience with their EU counterparts and are likely to bump the problem up to the World Trade Organisation's dispute resolution system.
Yet the commerce ministry should continue to be very careful about how far it intends to go to protect generic drug shipments. Last month it wrote to the WTO on a matter apparently unrelated, but actually closely tied to this one. The letter argued strongly that multilateral anti-counterfeiting activity, including the Japan-led Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, was an unfair trade restriction — a "protectionist initiative". This is in spite of the fact that the mass counterfeiting of Indian generics in Africa is beginning to affect perceptions there about India's safety as a manufacturing location; so much so that a 2008 anti-counterfeiting law in hard-hit Kenya serves to block access to most Indian generics, and it is possible that other East African countries will follow suit. (East Africa receives 20 per cent of the Indian drug industry's annual exports, valued at Rs 39,500 crore.)
It is therefore short-sighted of the ministry to tie anti-counterfeiting action to restrictions on Indian generics. The most powerful restriction on Indian generics could well come from domestic legislation in destination countries when the public health problems that come from counterfeiting become simply too big to ignore. And, in Africa, it is quickly getting there: in the past few weeks, Interpol seized 10 tonnes of counterfeit medicines in East Africa alone. Fight illegal seizures, yes; block multilateral anti-counterfeiting action, no.
Over a 16-month period that ended just over a year ago, European Union customs officials seized about 20 shipments of Indian generic drugs as they were passing through various European ports, especially Amsterdam and Hamburg, while going to Africa and Latin America. The reason? European Regulation 1383/2003 "concerning customs action against goods suspected of infringing certain intellectual property rights." The customs officials would suspect that a container with medicines inside — legal under the intellectual property regime in both the source and destination countries — would violate the stronger local patent laws, and they would thus open up and confiscate the shipments.
India's commerce ministry correctly identified this as an infringement on trade; reports on Saturday suggested that Indian negotiatiors are losing patience with their EU counterparts and are likely to bump the problem up to the World Trade Organisation's dispute resolution system.
Yet the commerce ministry should continue to be very careful about how far it intends to go to protect generic drug shipments. Last month it wrote to the WTO on a matter apparently unrelated, but actually closely tied to this one. The letter argued strongly that multilateral anti-counterfeiting activity, including the Japan-led Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, was an unfair trade restriction — a "protectionist initiative". This is in spite of the fact that the mass counterfeiting of Indian generics in Africa is beginning to affect perceptions there about India's safety as a manufacturing location; so much so that a 2008 anti-counterfeiting law in hard-hit Kenya serves to block access to most Indian generics, and it is possible that other East African countries will follow suit. (East Africa receives 20 per cent of the Indian drug industry's annual exports, valued at Rs 39,500 crore.)
It is therefore short-sighted of the ministry to tie anti-counterfeiting action to restrictions on Indian generics. The most powerful restriction on Indian generics could well come from domestic legislation in destination countries when the public health problems that come from counterfeiting become simply too big to ignore. And, in Africa, it is quickly getting there: in the past few weeks, Interpol seized 10 tonnes of counterfeit medicines in East Africa alone. Fight illegal seizures, yes; block multilateral anti-counterfeiting action, no.
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