[Ip-health] Korea Delay On Pharma FTA

[Sean Flynn]

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>From Inside US Trade:



Korea Gets Delay On Pharmaceuticals; Accepts Labor, Environment Text



In exchange for fully accepting additional commitments on labor and
environment in its bilateral free trade agreement with the United
States, the U.S. has accepted Korea*s demand for a delay in implementing
the obligation for a patent linkage system.



The U.S. has agreed that Korea will not have to implement such a system
until the FTA has been in force for 18 months, according to a spokesman
for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Instead, the U.S. will
only consult with Korea, and refrain from launching dispute settlement,
for any patent linkage noncompliance during this grace period, he said.



Under a patent linkage system, the Korean Food and Drug Administration
would not grant marketing approval for a drug unless it can certify that
it does not infringe on a patent.



Korea had sought this grace period to help its drug companies, which are
not sufficiently developed to take on the obligation more quickly
(Inside U.S. Trade, June 29).



Korean Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong this week also demanded that two
labor provisions be changed in the new FTA text that the Bush
Administration worked out with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman
Charles Rangel (D-NY). The USTR spokesman said the U.S. rejected the
Korean demands for changes to the labor provisions.



Remarking on Korea*s decision to accept the provisions, Korean Prime
Minister Han Duck-soo today (June 29) said the new trade policy *is not
too burdensome to Korea,* and that its guidelines *coincide with the
direction of our domestic labor and environment policies,* as
interpreted by a Korean official.



The USTR spokesman said the U.S. made *no commitment* on professional
visas, as Korea had sought. *That*s something that the administration
can always look at with Congress, but there were no commitments made on
that,* he said.