E-drug: African TRIPS amendment in African Trade Bill
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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
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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
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