E-drug: Annotated USTR 301 report against South Africa
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This is from the April 30, 1999 USTR Special 301 review. I have pulled out
the part of the report dealing with South Africa, and made a few comments.
The USTR report is basically a re-write of the February 16, 1999
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufactures Association (PhRMA) submissions to USTR
(http://www.phrma.org/issues/nte/safrica.html). Please read the part of the
USTR report that punishes South Africa for speaking out against US policy on
pharmacueticals in Africa.
We will be sending a letter to Vice President Gore, who is the US chair of
the South Africa/USA Binational Commission (BNC), complaining about his role
in punishing the South African people for its government's attempts to
address the
obvious health care crisis is South Africa. Please let me know if you are
interested in the working with us on the letter.
Jamie Love <love@cptech.org>
Here is the USTR 301 report on South Africa, from April 30, 1999, with my
annotations.
http://www.ustr.gov/releases/1999/04/99-41.html
<-----------begin USTR 301 report on SA--------------------------->
South Africa: South Africa's Medicines Act appears to grant the Health
Minister ill defined authority to issue compulsory licenses, authorize
parallel imports, and potentially otherwise abrogate patent rights.
[note: South Africa wants to use parallel imports and compulsory
licenses. But are legal under the WTO/TRIPS agreement.
Parallel Imports are legal under Article 6,
and compulsory licenses are legal under Article 31.
In Europe, parallel imports of pharmaceuticals are
common, and we do not bring trade pressures on this
issue. Compulsory licenses are also used in Europe
and the USA.]
Implementation of the law has been suspended pending the resolution of a
constitutional challenge in the South African courts.
[Note: Drug companies are tying to block the act in court]
Undisclosed test data is also not adequately protected under South African law.
[Note: South Africa permitted generic versions of Taxol to
enter the market. Taxol is a US government invention.
Evidence the drug is safe and effective comes from US NIH
sponsored clinical trials. USTR is seeking to protect
BMS monopoly on Taxol worldwide.]
During the past year, South African representatives have led a faction of
nations in the World Health Organization (WHO) in calling for a reduction in
the level of protection provided for pharmaceuticals in TRIPS.
[Note: This is a very troubling aspect of the 301 review.
The South African Ministry of Health has spoken out
against US government bilateral pressures on
intellectual property issues. Doctors representing
the South African government have helped to mobilize
the public health community to address the global
public health crisis with AIDS and other diseases,
and have spoken in support of compulsory licensing
of essential medicines. At no time has South Africa
called for changing the TRIPS agreement. What
South Africa wants to do is consistent with the
TRIPS agreement.
Here the USTR makes it clear that it will punish even the
expression of opposing views in international forums.
This actions is designed to punish South Africa for giving
a voice of the millions of infected AIDS patients in South
Africa, and to warn other African countries not to speak out.]
Copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting is widespread and the U.S.
copyright industry estimates that trade losses due to piracy of
copyrighted works increased more than 35 percent between 1997 and 1998.
However, the South African Government recently took the welcome step of
adopting a implementing strategy to its 1997 Counterfeit Goods Act which
could strengthen enforcement. We call on the Government of South Africa
to bring its IPR regime into full compliance with TRIPS before the
January 1, 2000 deadline, ensure that all Government offices use only
legitimate software, and clarify that the powers granted in the
Medicines Act are consistent with its international obligations
[Compulsory licensing and parallel imports are both
permitted under the WTO/TRIPS accord]
and will not be used to weaken or abrogate pharmaceutical patent protection.
[South Africa has to do more than abide by international
agreements, it has to satisify the President Clinton and
Vice President Al Gore that Glaxo-Welcome, Bristol-Myers
Squibb, Merck and other companies can charge the prices
they want in South Africa.
We will continue to address these issues with the South African Government and
will conduct an out-of-cycle review of South Africa's progress towards
addressing these concerns in September 1999.
<------------------end USTR 301 report on SA---------------->
James Love, Director, Consumer Project on Technology
I can be reached at love@cptech.org, by telephone 202.387.8030,
by fax at 202.234.5176. CPT web page is http://www.cptech.org
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