Call for International Week of Action against EU-India FTA

[Guest guest]

Let us unite to fight for our right to access to medicines!

 

Call for International Week of Action against EU-India FTA

4 October 2010 to 9 October 2010

 

In October 2010, India and European Union (EU) are scheduled to meet for an informal round of negotiations before the India-EU Summit later in the month. The two sides are meeting to finalise a free trade and investment agreement, which they seek to conclude by the end of 2010.

 

Why are we concerned about this?

As we all know, India is considered to be the pharmacy of the developing world.  For example, generic competition from India is the backbone of national AIDS programmes in Africa, Asia and Latin America. This started in 2000, when Indian pharmaceutical companies were able to bring down the prices of first-line antiretrovirals for HIV and offer them at around USD 300 per patient per year as compared to USD 10,000 per patient per year offered by the patent-holding pharmaceutical companies. Indian generic companies have been able to provide antiretrovirals to treat HIV at about 1/4th the price of the patent-holding pharmaceutical companies. The reduction in prices has facilitated treatment scale-up for persons living with HIV across developing countries.  Competitive generic production means that patients in developing countries do not have to rely on patent-holding pharmaceutical companies or their charitable dole-outs to realise their right to health. This was possible because Indian patent law, until recently, did not provide monopolistic patents on medicines. In the absence of product patent protection for medicines, several pharmaceutical companies could manufacture the same medicine.

 

Yet, this is going to change and not necessarily for the better.

 

Under the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement), India was required to change its patent law in 2005 to provide product patents for medicines invented after 1 January 1995.  In 2005, India utilised the flexibilities available under the TRIPS Agreement and included several public health safeguards in its law (e.g. section 3(d) which disallows patenting of new forms of known substances) when it introduce product patent protection for medicines.  Such public health safeguards have been essential to prevent patenting of some crucial antiretrovirals in India, including tenofovir.

 

Now, the EU is pushing India to adopt standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement that go beyond India’s present obligations under international law.  If the EU manages to pressure India to accepting its demands, access to medicines for patients in India and across the developing world will be under a real threat. The goal of universal access to medicines for persons living with HIV and others will become even more difficult.

 

Already with the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement, Indian generic companies cannot produce “new” medicines, invented after 1995, which have been granted patents in India. This includes new antiretrovirals that will soon be needed for patients failing second line antiretroviral treatment. The proposed free trade agreement (FTA) being negotiated with the EU will make it worse.  The EU wants India and other developing countries to adopt higher standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement.  These higher standards are being sought with a view to maximising the profits of industry in the EU. Some of the demands are:

Patent term extension, which will prolong the patents by a number of years.

Data exclusivity, which will make registration of generic versions of medicines difficult.

Enforcement provisions, which require India’s Executive and Judiciary to prioritise the enforcement of private patent rights and which will effectively deter generic competition.

Border measures, which will make export of medicines from India to other developing countries difficult, if not impossible.

 

These and other such provisions will adversely affect the supply of generic medicines from India.  It is, therefore, imperative that India does not agree to any TRIPS-plus provisions or compromise on the flexibilities available under the TRIPS Agreement.

 

For this, we must, in one voice, call upon the Government of India to reject the EU-India FTA, especially the provisions relating to intellectual property rights and investment.

 

To this end, we are calling for an international week of joint action from 4 October 2010 to 9 October 2010. As in 2005, we request you to lend your support in pointing out to the Government of India the importance of generic production of medicines in India and the possible adverse consequences of the EU-India FTA, especially the chapters on intellectual property protection and investment, on the right to health.

 

Let us unite to fight against the thrust for global monopoly. Let us unite to ensure that human life is valued over profit.

 

Protest Actions:

Ø  Protests, candlelight vigils, or whatever action is appropriate for the country outside the Embassy / Consulate Office of Republic of India and call upon the Government of India to say “NO” to:

o   Intellectual property provisions in the proposed EU-India FTA

o   Investment provisions that include “intellectual property rights” within its scope

 

Ø  Protests in front of offices of the European Commission and embassies of countries that a part of the European Union to stop its actions against generic medicines in FTA negotiations and at other international fora.

 

Ø  Write / email / Fax:

·         Dr. Manmohan Singh

The Prime Minister’s Office

South Block, Raisina Hill, New Delhi, India 110 011.

Fax: +91 11 23016857; +91 11 23019545

Email: pmo@...

·         Mr. Anand Sharma

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry

Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi, India 110 107.

Fax: +91 11 23063418

Email: cim@...

·         Karel De Gucht

EC Trade Commissioner

Member of the European Commission

BE-1049 Brussels, Belgium.

Fax: (+32 02) 29 80899

Email: Karel.DE-GUCHT@...

·         Graham

Chairman of Delegation for Relations with India

Member of EU Parliament

Fax: +32-2-28.49626 or +33-3-88.1.79626

Email: graham.watson@...

 

If you want a sample of a letter to the Government of India, you may refer to the sign-on letter initiated by Delhi Network of Positive People, available at http://www.dnpplus.org/news.php

  For further inquires, you may contact us at Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit at aidslaw2@.... 

 

 

In solidarity,

All India Drug Action Network (AIDAN)

Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+)

Indian Network for People Living with HIV/AIDS (INP+)

Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit

Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust

Udaan Trust