EU, India close to resolve disputes on drugs seized (Yahoo!)

EU, India close to resolve disputes on drugs seizuresPallavi Aiyar / Brussels 09 December 2010, 0: 35 IST

A clearer indication of the European Commission, but a resolution of the ongoing dispute between New Delhi and Brussels on generic drugs seizures had been reached, a senior EC official told reporters Wednesday that she was "open to the evolution of" defective regulation.

The official said: "all the elements necessary for a settlement had been identified" and concerned regulation would soon "adapted to ensure that no repetition of incidents (drug seizure) occurs.

While the lawyers on both sides were still research in the nitty gritty of the agreement, it is likely that an announcement on the issue will be made Friday India EU Summit in Brussels.

Generics in 2008-2009, during which period twenty odd shipments of facts to Indian generic drugs in transit to European ports seized were challenged. In May of this year, the India and the Brazil took the case in world trade (WTO), where they have been invited to prepare consultations with the European Union as a precursor to the establishment of a dispute resolution Committee.

It cites customs laws which allow goods in transit to stop if suspected to be illegal or unsafe, as justification. Generic drugs in question were off-patent in the India and countries to which they were intended. However, in some cases seized drugs were protected by patents in the European Union.

The India has European countries create trade barriers against companies Indian medication to protect the interests of their businesses.

On the fifth wheel is directive customs 1383, which outlines the details of the conditions under which European Customs may legitimately stop goods in transit. Amendments to this regulation will be probably advertised as a "resolution" in the Summit Friday meeting proceedings.

The EU official who spoke on condition of anonymity, added that a report on the negotiations in the EU-India agreements would be presented at the Summit and saw the "important progress" so far. The "end game" before he speaks, and a conclusion to the talks was scheduled for next spring.

On the controversial issue of the chapter on intellectual property rights (IPR), the official revealed that an agreement has been reached between the two parties. The EU has been pushing India provisions TRIPS-plus that New Delhi was rejected. But the official said that the new common position on intellectual property rights is that it would simply a reiteration of the existing legislation to focus on the rights of intellectual property in both countries, in some cases, went beyond what had been agreed to in the agreement on trips. However, chapter would require any change in the legislation of intellectual property on each side.

The official added negotiations on government procurement, an area where the India has so far been reluctant to discuss, finally took place, although the contents of this chapter has remained unclear at the moment.

As regards the chapter on sustainable development through which the EU seeks to link the India to a range of human rights, fear of work and the environmental commitments, the official said that any final accommodation would be based on the "cooperation not trade sanctions." Although the India firmly rejected the possibility to include this chapter under the final agreement, the official said that it was "hope" a solution will be found which would "take concerns the India account of and interests of the European Union."

The good news of the Indian point of view is that the EU is apparently ready to make a "offers strong" on what is called the category mode 4 of the General Agreement on trade in services (GATS) of the WTO Treaty dealing with cross-border investment services. Mode 4 determines the cross-border movement of people to provide services.

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