[Ip-health] Business Standard (India)- No cure in sight for India-EU drug seizure controversy

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No cure in sight for India-EU drug seizure controversy


Pallavi Aiyar / Brussels November 14, 2009, 0:41 IST



India and the European Union (EU) have begun discussions to resolve the
ongoing dispute over the seizure of Indian generic drugs consignments in
transit at European ports. Lutz Guellner, spokesperson for the European
Trade Commissioner, told Business Standard that a meeting of the
EU-India Joint Customs Cooperation Committee held in New Delhi on
Thursday proved "constructive" with an "open discussion of the issues"
taking place.

The meeting, however, failed to produce any resolution. "The different
positions of the two sides were explained and facts were put on the
table, but we have not yet come up with any solution," said Guellner.

The spokesperson, however, emphasised that the Indian side "was happy
with the dialogue".

Last month, the Indian mission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in
Geneva informed a TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
Rights) council meeting that widespread and repeated seizures were
having an adverse impact on the legitimate trade of generic medicines,
universal access to medicines in developing countries and national
public health budgets.

Along with Brazil, India had threatened to formally take up the matter
with the WTO dispute settlement body. However, at the recently-held
India-EU summit, European Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton assured
her Indian counterpart, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, that EU's
"commitment on the pharma generic issues is to find a solution that
works for India".

Thursday's meeting between Customs official followed this commitment.

There have been almost 20 seizures of Indian-made generic drugs in
transit at European ports recently on the grounds of alleged patent
infringement. In 2008, 16 seizures were reported in the Netherlands
alone. In addition, a consignment of 3.04 million tablets of popular
antibiotic, Amoxicillin, enroute from Mumbai to Vanuatu, was stopped in
Frankfurt earlier this year.

India and public health NGOs have claimed that these seizures were not
only illegal since they contravened WTO norms, but were also damaging to
developing countries by denying or delaying them access to life saving
medicines.

All the consignments seized were eventually found to be legal, the
generics in question off-patent.

But despite the protests, another seizure in October took place when a
shipment of 1.74 million tablets of anti-platelet drug Clopidogrel from
Mumbai-based Macleods Pharma to Venezuela was stopped in the Paris
airport.

EU cites domestic customs laws that allow goods in transit to be stopped
if they are suspected of being either illegal or substandard as
justification. India, however, maintains that European countries are
creating trade barriers against Indian drug companies to protect the
interests of their firms.

At issue is also the question of whether customs officials have the
competence to judge intellectual property rights infringements.

This is something that was discussed at Thursday's meeting, according to
Guellner.

"Both India and EU agree that customs has the right to stop goods in
transit as long as this does not hinder legitimate trade. The concern is
whether the EU's current regulation 1383, which lays out what European
customs can and cannot do, is a hindrance."

The spokesperson explained that the main issue in need of further
discussion was the matter of what constituted sufficient reason for
customs officials to stop a particular consignment.

"What is under debate is when regulation 1383 can and should be
activated."

"Once this becomes clarified it may present a possible solution," said
Guellner, while stressing that the number of consignments stopped at
European ports were only a small percentage of the total shipments from
India that passed through Europe.

"It's really a technical issue but with political ramifications," he
said.

No date for the next round of discussions has been set yet.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/no-cure-in-sight-for-india-e
u-drug-seizure-controversy/376436/