formating fixed: South Africa Comments to WHA Executive Board on January 26, 1999

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

http://lists.essential.org/pharm-policy/msg00005.html

Excerpts from prepared comments of Peter Goosen, Charge d' Affairs 
at the South African Permanent Mission, before the World Health
Assembly (WHA) Executive Board, January 26, 1999, in support of the 
WHA Revised Drug Strategy, that will be voted on by the WHA in
May 1999.  


  [snip]

In an attempt to rationalise the use of our limited resources and to
thereby extend the reach of our health services, we embarked upon a 
review of our drug policy in 1996. This review involved all 
stakeholders and was executed with technical assistance from the Drug 
Action Program, resulting in the finalisation of appropriate 
legislation  in October 1997.

This legislation addresses a range of issues to ensure all South
Africans have access to safe and affordable medicines. The South 
African legislation streamlined registration and regulation 
procedures, ensured transparent acquisition and pricing procedures, 
secure and efficient methods of distribution, generic substitution, 
rational prescribing and dispensing. In addition to these accepted 
international norms, we have passed legislation to enable South 
Africa to parallel import pharmaceuticals and to allow or
the issuing of non-exclusive compulsory licenses.

There have been subtle and not so subtle attempts to bring 
international pressure to bear on the South African government in 
regard to this legislation, and while we remain open to persuasion 
by rational arguments, our commitment to the underlying principles 
that underpin our legislation is unwavering.


Although this model legislation can not be enacted due to a legal
challenge by vested interests - let me be very clear about the 
South African government?s position.

The clauses in question provide an enabling legal framework for two
TRIP?s compliant strategies aimed at making medicines more 
affordable namely:

        a.. As a signatory to the TRIPS agreement the South African
government respects patents and patent law as required by this 
agreement

        b.. The international exhaustion of patent rights is not
prohibited by the TRIPS agreement and does not violate patent rights. 
Additionally parallel importation is practised within the European Union 
and is enshrined in European law. The international exhaustion of other 
intellectual property rights is well established in jurisprudence in 
many countries.

        c.. Compulsory licensing for local production is permitted by
the TRIPS agreement. These strategies to ensure affordable medicines 
have also been presented as possible policy options in an official WHO 
publication, Globalisation and the Access to Drugs (WHO/DAP/98.9). 
These strategies were also validated by the contributions of the experts 
from WIPO and WTO during at the meeting of the Ad Hoc group. The
official 
WHO publication, Globalisation and the Access to Drugs (WHO/DAP/98.9) is 
an invaluable resource for persons interested in pharmaceutical policy
and 
indeed international health and trade policy. We understand that the 
concerns expressed by WTO have been addressed in a revised document and 
we therefore look forward to receiving the revised publication.

Mr. Chairman, it is our contention that this resolution on the revised
drug strategy addresses certain crucial public health concerns in a
clear 
and unambiguous manner. It reaffirms the primacy of the public health
principles on which this organisation was founded, thereby offering a 
small but bright beacon of hope in the uncertain and unpredictable 
globalized environment of the 21st century. This resolution is in fact a 
strengthened version of the original as now public health considerations 
are an issue, not only in international trade agreements, but
additionally 
in international financial agreements. It is WHO's clear role to protect 
public health needs at these international forums. As such the revised
drug 
strategy document has the support and endorsement of the South African 
Government.

  
   [snip]
-- 
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is http://www.cptech.org