African TRIPS amendment in US African Trade Bill

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

African TRIPS amendment in US African Trade Bill

The following is draft language that Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr.
has been asked to include in legislation dealing with US African 
trade.  It would prevent the US government from lobbying against 
African measures to promote access to medicines, so long as those 
policies were permitted under the WTO's TRIPSs agreement.  This would 
include such practices as compulsory licensing, parallel
imports and generic drug substitution, all which are legal under the
WTO/TRIPS, and all of which have been subject to intenese bilateral 
lobbying and by US trade and foreign policy officials.  (See
http://www.cptech.org/ip/health/).


This is the latest draft of the IPR provisions for Jackson's bill:

<-------------begin TRIPS amendment------------------------>

Sec. XXX  Requirements Relating to Sub-Saharan Africa Intellectual
Property and Competition Law


Funds appropriated or otherwise made avaiable to any department or
agency of the United States may not be used to seek, though negotiation 
or otherwise, the revocation or revisions of any sub-Saharan African 
intellectual property or competition law or policy that is designed to 
promote access to pharmaceuticals or other medical technologies and such 
law or policy, as the case may be, complies with the Agreement on 
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights referred to in 
section 101(d)(15) of the Urugay Round Agreements Act.

<--------------end TRIPS amendment------------------------>


The Jesse Jackson, Jr. bill is called the HOPE bill, and it is competing
against a much different version supported by Clinton Administration and 
much of the Republican leadership.  Public health groups, even if they 
don't want to get involved in the broader issues, should tell Congress 
to support the TRIPS amendment, IMO.  

For more on the African Trade dispute, see the Public Citizen Global
Trade Watch page on this at:

http://www.citizen.org/pctrade/Africa/africahome.html

You can also write Rob Weissman <rob@essential.org> 202.387.8030 for
more info
on this issues.  

Jamie


-- 
James Love, Consumer Project on Technology
P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
202.387.8030; f 202.234.5176
http://www.cptech.org, mailto:love@cptech.org