EU drops demands for ACTA-like provisions in Canada trade negotiations
European Commission trade spokesperson argues that Brussels has not dropped its stance
The European Union (EU) has agreed to drop demands to introduce criminal sanctions to pharmaceutical copying similar to those proposed in the stalled Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) within its ongoing free trade negotiations with Canada.
Belgium’s European Digital Rights (EDRi) group claims EU member states have provisionally agreed to a proposal from the EU Council of Ministers that these provisions be excluded from the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement with Canada that is now under discussion.
European Commission officials had been proposing that ACTA-like language on preventing pharmaceutical copies should be part of the deal. Joe McNamee, executive director of EDRi, said this could have discouraged genuine generic medicine manufacturers from trading between the EU and Canada.
‘The danger for generics in ACTA’s criminal sanctions was – would companies involved in the distribution chain of genuine generics be intimidated by the threat of criminal sanctions [...] in case it transpired that the drugs were, in fact, counterfeit?’ he said.
Russell Williams, president of Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies association, declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations, but said harmonising life science intellectual property regimes with the EU was a ‘priority issue’ to ensure equal competition.
A European Commission trade spokesperson argued that Brussels had not dropped its stance, but added: ‘What the EU is currently doing, is to continue the negotiations with Canada on the bilateral trade deal, reflecting the decision of the European Parliament in July this year which rejected ACTA.
Also in the area [of] criminal sanctions, setting the rules on criminal sanctions [in Europe] is the responsibility of the EU Member States and therefore is negotiated by them in the EU-Canada trade talks. The European Commission has advised the Member States to take into account the rejection of ACTA as regards criminal sanctions in the EU-Canada trade agreement.’