European Parliament tells Commission not to prevent access to medicines in developing countries

European Parliament tells Commission not to prevent access to medicines in developing countries


The European Parliament is insisting that the Council and the Commission do more to ensure access to essential medicines in developing countries. The Parliament has refused to ratify the WTO protocol on intellectual property rights until it has guarantees from the Council and the Commission that they will fully support access to essential medicines.
On 17 July 2007 MEPs stepped up a campaign to make cheap medicines available to the world’s poorest countries by delaying an international agreement on intellectual property rights.
In a protest towards the attitude of the European Commission and the EU Council,the International Trade (INTA)committee of EP put off ratifying a protocol in order to amend the "TRIPS" (trade related intellectual property rights) agreement.
Kader Arif who led the protest said "We want a solemn undertaking by the Commission and Council guaranteeing that Europe will be actively involved in finding new solutions. In line with the public’s wishes, the EU should aim to be a world leader in the effort to make affordable medicines available throughout the world".
A resolution passed by the European Parliament with cross party support calls:
* on more to be done to allow developing countries to access medicines.
* on the Council to support the developing countries which use flexibilities included in the TRIPS agreement.
* the Commission and the Member States to provide financial support for local production of pharmaceuticals in developing countries.
* the Council to limit the mandate of the Commission so as to prevent negotiation of pharmaceutical-related TRIPS-plus provisions affecting public health or access to medicines.
In a response that has not satisfied the Parliament, the Enlargement Commissioner Olie Rien stated that the European Union will exclude medicine patent provisions from future trade deals with poorer countries to ease their access to cheaper drugs. "The Commission can confirm that the European Community is committed to not include in the economic partnership agreements and in other future bilateral and regional agreements with poor developing countries any TRIPS plus provisions which could affect access to medicines," Commissioner Rehn told parliament.
The INTA Committee of the EP had been so concerned about the issue of access to medicines and the TRIPs provisions of the World Trade Organisation that they had organised a hearing on the topic on 5 June 2007.
During the hearing they were informed of
* the rising barriers to essential medicines, including the pressures brought to bear on developing countries not to utilise the TRIPS flexibility provisions agreed at Doha or even to submit to TRIPS plus provisions in bilateral agreements.
* that the United States was the main force behind this move, but that there were fears that the EU too would join the US in including TRIPS plus provisions in regional or bilateral trade agreements. The Parliamentarians, including Committee Chairman Hemlmuth Markov, expressed concerns that the Commission was not doing enough to support access to medicines in general and the use by developing countries of TRIPS flexibility instruments such as compulsory licences in particular.
As a result of this hearing the resolution of the parliament was developed and adopted. The resolution asks:
* the Commission and the Member States to provide financial support for pharmaceutical-related transfers of technology and capacity building and local production of pharmaceuticals in developing countries, especially in LDCs.
* the Commission to grant funding for R&D on poverty-related, tropical and neglected diseases.
* the Council to support those developing countries using so-called flexibilities built into the TRIPS Agreement and recognized by the Doha Declaration. The resolution also calls on the Council to adopt a Joint Policy Statement with the European Parliament to the effect that EU Member States remain free to use all exception provisions of the TRIPS Agreement under their domestic patent laws to authorise production and export ‘to address public health needs in importing Members’ and asks the Council to mandate the Commission to refrain from taking action to interfere with these proceedings.