Por: ICTSD
Recent seizures of generic medicines in transit have attracted wide attention in view of their implications for efforts to promote greater access to medicines, particularly in developing countries.
In this context, the Working Paper, Border Measures Concerning Goods Allegedly Infringing Intellectual Property Rights: The Seizures of Generic Medicines in Transit, by Xavier Seuba, provides an in depth analysis of the complex legal issues raised by some border measure which go beyond the minimum standards set by the Agreement on Trade related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
The paper examines the nature and scope of the existing EC custom border regulations and their relationship with the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the TRIPS Agreement and subsequent WTO instruments, particularly the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health (2001) and the General Council Decision of 30th August 2003.
The author points out that the power granted to WTO members to set higher standards of enforcement than those stipulated by Articles 51 and 52 of the TRIPS Agreement has to be consistent with other TRIPS provisions and balanced with the key legal principle of territoriality of IPRs. The principle of free trade in the GATT Agreement and the aim of the TRIPS Agreement to reduce any “distortion and impediments to international trade” should also be respected.
This paper was commissioned under the ICTSD Programme on IPRs and Sustainable Development. It is made available as a working paper in order to facilitate dialogue, broader understanding, consultation and further inputs into this critical debate.
The paper is work in progress and interested persons and institutions are welcome to provide comments or inputs to the author directly or via ICTSD (aabdellatif@ictsd.ch or proffe@ictsd.ch).