Medecins Sans Frontieres say: RCEP trade agreement threatens access to affordable medicines for half the world’s
population
Background information:
As negotiators from 16 countries gather in Auckland, New Zealand, this week for the thirteenth round of negotiations of
the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal, Médecins Sans Frontières, along with other health
organisations, appeals for the removal of harmful intellectual property provisions that could potentially raise
treatment costs by creating new forms of monopolies and delaying the entry of affordable generics in the market. If the
intellectual property provisions proposed by Japan and South Korea are accepted, access to essential medicines will be
restricted for millions of people across Asia and the world who rely on life-saving affordable generics made in India.
RCEP is a regional trade agreement being negotiated between the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
countries and Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. RCEP countries are home to nearly 50% of the
world’s population, including the most impoverished, vulnerable and marginalised communities living in the Least
Developed Countries (LDCs).
A leaked copy of the intellectual property text being discussed at the negotiations shows that Japan and South Korea
have made several alarming proposals to include intellectual property rules that go beyond what international trade
rules require, and that would undermine access to affordable generic medicines. MSF and other health organisations have
been working to remove similarly harmful provisions from another trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement,
which would restrict access to medicines for more than 800 million people living in 12 Pacific Rim countries.
Quotes from health organisations:
Belinda Townsend, Public Health Association of Australia:
“The RCEP trade deal threatens to undermine India and China’s role as major suppliers of generic medicines for people in
the developing world, including both low- and middle-income countries such as Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos,
Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand. Access to affordable generic medicines is vital for these countries to address
public health challenges, including HIV, tuberculosis, viral hepatitis and non-communicable diseases, and to ensure that
their governments can progressively realize the sustainable development goal of universal access to health care. If RCEP
imposes high levels of intellectual property protection, these countries could lose their capacity to increase access to
affordable of medicines for their populations.”
Chalermsak Kittitrakul, AIDS Access, Thailand –
“If the RCEP trade deal imposes harmful ‘TRIPS-plus’ provisions, including patent term extensions and data exclusivity,
access to affordable medicine will be restricted across the region. A 2008 study found that five-year patent term
extensions in Thailand would increase medicine costs by nearly six billion dollars over twenty years, severely affecting
the national health insurance system that cares for over 48 million people.”
Leena Menghaney, MSF Access Campaign, India:
“Unless negotiators remove harmful provisions from RCEP, this trade deal is set to follow the dangerous path of the
US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, which is recognised globally as the worst trade deal ever for access to
medicines. We appeal to India’s intellectual property negotiators in particular to stand by the promise made last week
by Health Minister JP Nadda at the UN High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS that ‘India is committed to maintaining TRIPS
flexibilities to ensure access to affordable medicines.’”
Additional information:
1. Civil society letter to countries negotiating Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RECP) before the Auckland
round (June 2016) of negotiations: http://www.msfaccess.org/content/civil-society-letter-countries-negotiating-regional-comprehensive-economic-partnership-rcep
2. Briefing document on two TRIPS-plus provisions: http://www.msfaccess.org/content/briefing-note-rcep-trade-deal-damaging-impact-two-proposed-trips-plus-measures
3. Leaked intellectual property text from RCEP negotiations: https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=http://keionline.org/sites/default/files/RCEP-IP-Chapter-15October2015.docx
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