[Ip-health] E-DRUG: EU Regulation text on compulsory licensing of patents

[Philip Coticelli]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
E-DRUG: EU Regulation text on compulsory licensing of patents
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Here below the link of the Regulation of the European Parliament and
the
Council on compulsory licensing of patents relating to the
manufacture of
pharmacutical products for export countries with public health
adopted by
the EU on April 27th, 2006.

http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/05/st03/st03674.en05.pdf
[Link may need repair!]

The text will be published after the 17 of May, and it will enter
into
force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the
Official Journal of the European Union.

Alexandra Heumber
M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res
Access to Medicines Campaign
EU Advocacy Liaison Officer
C/O MSF-B
Rue Dupr=E9, 94
1090 Brussels
++32 (0) 2 474 75 09 (Dir off)
++ 32 (0) 479 514 900 (Mob)
++ 32 (0) 2 474 75 75 (Fax)
Alexandra.HEUMBER@brussels.msf.org

Press release:
The Council adopted[1] today in first reading a Regulation on
compulsory
licensing of patents relating to the manufacture of pharmaceutical
products for
export to countries with public health problems. (PE-CONS 3674/05)

This Regulation aims at facilitating and regulating at Community
level the
granting of compulsory licences for the supply of patented
pharmaceutical
products to countries in need. After its entry into force, it will
allow to
handle cases of public health emergencies, such as the avian flu, in
poor
developing countries lacking the capacity to manufacture such
medicines locally.

Intensive cooperation between the Council and the European Parliament
has
allowed the rapid adoption of this Regulation which is directly
applicable in
all Member States since the date of its entry into force i.e. on the
twentieth
day following its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

The two co legislators agreed to modify the Commission's proposal in
particular
by widening the list of countries eligible to benefit from the import
of
products licensed under the Regulation to include not only members of
the WTO
but also other least-developed and developing countries.

The text of the Regulation makes clear that the compulsory licensing
system set
up by this Regulation is intended to address public health problems
and
therefore it should not be used by countries to pursue industrial or
commercial
policy objectives. Moreover it specifies that products manufactured
pursuant to
this Regulation reach only those who need them and are not diverted
from those
for whom they were intended.

The issuing of compulsory licences under this Regulation imposes clear
conditions upon the licensee as regards the acts covered by the
licence, the
identification of the pharmaceutical products manufactured under the
licence and
the countries to which the products will be exported.

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[1] The German delegation abstained.

[Anybody who knows why Germany abstained? KM, moderator]
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