FTAs: There must be no compromises on health -PT Jyothi Datta

-The Hindu Business Line

The negotiations must be conducted in a transparent manner especially on issues regarding intellectual property

Every time countries negotiate a trade deal, public health workers are forced to keep their ear to the ground, to ensure there is no trade-off on health. And that seems to be the case this time too, in the build-up to the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the United Kingdom.

Leaked texts and back-room discussions, say pro-health groups, outline requirements in the chapter on Intellectual Property (IP) that would curb India’s ability to make medicines for patients in the country and other parts of the world.

In fact, humanitarian group MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres or Doctors without Borders), reacting to the leaked texts on IP, urged India and the UK to keep IP off the table. In a conversation, MSF’s spokesperson on access to medicines explained that the texts indicated a watering down of the patentability critera; inclusion of features like extension of the patent term (currently at 20 years), exclusion of pre-grant opposition (or the right to challenge a patent application) and information on the “working of a patent”.

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