[Commons-Law] Indian drug firms wary of global customs norms

[Prashant Iyengar]

http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c.php?leftnm=10&autono=325906
Indian drug firms wary of global customs norms
Thu Jun 12 2008 10:12:56 GMT+0530 (India Standard Time)
Indian drug firms wary of global customs norms
Joe C Mathew / New Delhi June 12, 2008, 0:31 IST

The World Customs Organisation (WCO), the intergovernmental body that
aims at developing global standards for Customs departments, is
planning to recommend stringent norms for enforcing the intellectual
property rights of export consignments. However, Indian researchers
have expressed concern over the move which goes beyond the minimum
standards prescribed under the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement of the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) as TRIPS mandates such standards only for "imports" of goods and
leaves stringent provisions for "exports" optional.

The WCO proposals, if implemented, could empower the customs
authorities to seize any export or goods in transit consignments on
complaints of suspected IP violation. This could prove to be a
powerful non-tariff barrier for industries like pharmaceuticals in the
developing countries, warn Indian researchers.

The working draft of the proposal — Standards Employed by Customs for
Uniform Rights Enforcement (SECURE) — was prepared after the WCO
observed that "only by granting certain powers and measures that go
beyond the minimum requirement set forth in the TRIPS agreement,
governments can provide an effective and efficient level of IPR
protection and enforcement at their borders".

"The 'Provisional Global Customs Standards' to counter IPR violations
go much beyond the definition of 'counterfeits' discussed by the World
Health Assembly (WHA) last week in Geneva. It talks of its own 'Model
IPR Legislation' for enforcement of IPRs and advocates granting powers
and measures to the customs that go beyond the minimum requirements
set forth in the TRIPS Agreement," says D G Shah, secretary general,
Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA). "This, unless properly
addressed, could be yet one more hurdle for access to medicines. It is
a matter of concern not only for the national pharmaceutical industry,
but also for the Government of India and the civil society as its
potential to create barrier is even greater than the TRIPS Agreement,"
he added.

According to Nirmalya Syam, a researcher with the Delhi-based Centre
for Trade and Development (Centad), the application of SECURE
provisions in the current form "will enable states to interdict and
seize the shipment of any product which is suspected to be
counterfeit". "Such powers may be used as non-tariff barriers to deny
market access from developing countries like India to the markets of
other countries."