German Parliament Members Seek Limited Patent Terms In EU-India FTA

Health experts of the German Parliament are concerned about possible negative effects of the European Union-India free trade agreement under negotiation. In a letter dated 8 July, the Parliament’s Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development called on the European Commission and the German Government to ensure in the ongoing negotiations “that rules on intellectual property rights contained in the EU-India Free Trade Agreement correspond to the TRIPS standard” and also “ensure that the agreement does not extend patent terms beyond the TRIPS standard of 20 years.” TRIPS refers to the 1994 World Trade Organization Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights.

Parliament letter available here [pdf].

In addition to the letter that was prepared by the Sub-Committee of on Health and Development, the subcommittee Chair Uwe Kekeritz also wrote to his colleagues at the Indian Parliament, the chair of the Standing Committee on Commerce, Shri Shanta Kumar, and the chair of the Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, Shri Amar Singh, asking them to share their views on possible public health implications of the EU-India FTA. Members of all parties of the German Parliament expressed “concerns that intellectual property rights provisions in the EU-India free trade agreement might hinder the production of generic medicines in India and export of such medicine.”