An open letter to the sixteen governments negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
17 October 2016
Health organisations call on trade ministers to reject provisions that would negatively affect access to generic
medicines in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a free trade agreement (FTA) currently under negotiation
between the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) and countries with existing FTAs with ASEAN
which includes Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
The RCEP includes an intellectual property (IP) chapter with measures that threaten access to life saving essential
medicines. Even though it does not include the United States, many of provisions appear to have been borrowed from the
US-Korea free trade agreement and the Trans Pacific Partnership agreement. In April 2016, a leaked IP chapter (dated
October 2015) verified that South Korea and Japan were pushing for data exclusivity, a measure that could delay
regulatory approval for medicines that are off patent, and provisions that will lengthen medicine patent monopoly
periods. This will only serve to delay the market entry of affordable generic medicines and goes well beyond the
intellectual property protections required by the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
This chapter is of particular concern as India’s IP laws attempt to strike a fair balance between the rights of the
patent holders and the need to provide affordable medicines to its citizens and people in the developing world. India is
the world’s largest producer of generic medicines and supplies more than 80% of generic anti-retro viral (ARV) medicine
to treat HIV in low and middle income (LMIC) countries. Its generic medicine industry has reduced the cost of ARV
medicines over time by up to 98%, vastly increasingly access to medicines for those most in need. If India is forced to
sign onto TRIPS plus measures, access to affordable generics of new essential medicines for a number of diseases for the
world’s poorest people in Sub Saharan Africa and other low and middle income countries will be seriously compromised.
For example Malaysia provides Indian generic ARVs free of charge to their HIV positive population. It is highly unlikely
that Malaysia could afford to sustain their HIV treatment program if they are unable to access Indian generics. RCEP
also includes several LMIC that have large populations and economic pressures to ensure affordable access to medicines,
such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, China and Vietnam. Least developed country (LDC) members Laos, Cambodia,
and Myanmar are struggling to provide affordable access to medicines and have an extension in the WTO on pharmaceutical
IP protection until 2033 (and are eligible to extend this period for as long as they are LDCs).
UNAIDS reports that only a third of the people in the Asia and Pacific region who need HIV treatment currently have
access. If RCEP countries agree to elevated IP protection in RCEP, this figure could likely increase.
There is no justification for an intellectual property chapter in regional trade agreements such as the RCEP. We call on
all negotiating governments to reject all TRIPS plus measures in the RCEP. In particular we call upon wealthier
countries such as South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand to resist pressing for IP provisions that threaten
access to medicines for the world’s poor.
Signatory civil society organisations Organisation RCEP country MSF Access Campaign Global International Grail Global Justice Network Global People’s Health Movement Global Public Services International - Oceania Regional Asia Pacific Research Network Regional Public Health Association of Australia Australia MSF Doctors Without Borders Australia Australia Australian Health Promotion Association Australia Caritas Australia Australia Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network Australia Community and Public Sector Union/SPSF Australia NSW Nurses and Midwives Association Australia Finance Sector Union of Australia Australia Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Justice and Peace Centre Australia Pax Christi Australia Australia Edmund Rice Centre Australia Catholic Religious Australia Australia Grail Australia Global Justice Network Australia N.S.W Retired Teachers’ Association Australia Institute of the Sisters of Mercy Australia Australia Conference of Leaders of Religious Institutes in NSW Australia Textile Clothing & Footwear Union of Australia Australia Combined Pensioners & Superannuants Association Australia Retired Unionists Network Australia Sutherland Shire Environment Centre Australia Sisters of St Joseph Australia De La Salle Brothers Australia SS Peter & Paul Catholic Parish Social Justice Group Australia Bandanh Chatomok National MSM and TG network Cambodia Cambodian People living with HIV Network- Takeo Cambodia Cambodian Health Committee Cambodia Southeast Asia Development Program (SADP) Cambodia Committee to Promote Women in Politics Cambodia Social Action for Change Cambodia SILAKA Cambodia Women's Network for Unity Cambodia CamASEAN Youth's Future Cambodia Gender and Development for Cambodia Cambodia Worker's Information Center Cambodia The Messenger Band Cambodia Women's Network for Unity Cambodia Khmer HIV/AIDS NGO Alliance Cambodia Rainbow Community Kampuchea Cambodia ARV Users Association Cambodia KORSANG Cambodia National Coalition of PLHIV in India - NCPI+ India The Delhi Network of Positive people India