Title: The impact of FTAs on public health policies and TRIPS flexibilities

Authors: Pedro Roffe, Christoph Spennemann

Addresses: Project on Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), 7, chemin de Balexert, 1219 Geneva, Switzerland. ' Technology Transfer and Intellectual Property, International Arrangements Section, Division on Investment, Technology and Enterprise Development, UNCTAD, Palais des Nations, Avenue de la Paix 8-14, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Abstract: This paper, after providing a brief historical overview of the ways international agreements deal with public health-related IPRs, analyses the TRIPS-plus trend in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and its impact on access-to-medicines policies. It focuses on FTAs concluded by the USA and the Member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) with a number of developing countries and their provisions on patents and test data protection. New obligations in this field go well beyond the TRIPS minimum standards and may seriously affect access in developing countries to affordable generic pharmaceutical products.

Keywords: intellectual property management; IPM; Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights; IPR; public health; free trade agreements; FTAs; TRIPS-plus obligations; access to medicines; patent rights; pharmaceutical test data protection; generic medicines; TRIPS flexibilities; developing countries.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIPM.2006.011023

International Journal of Intellectual Property Management, 2006 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.75 - 93

Published online: 03 Oct 2006 *

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