Associated Press Worldstream | By NAOMI KOPPEL | August 29, 2003
Discouraged diplomats returned to the World Trade Organization on Friday afternoon for a final attempt at finishing off a deal to allow poor countries to import cheap copies of expensive drugs.
The diplomats came tantalizingly close by 1 a.m. Friday following a marathon session in which they gave approval to an agreement on the drugs to fight killer diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
Their failure to seal the deal a few minutes later in the same room came as a big surprise. The euphoria that followed the United States' ending of an eight-month holdout vanished.
Negotiators arriving for the meeting Friday afternoon said the major problems tend to surround demands of some countries to make statements before WTO's supreme General Council formally approves the deal. Such statements can provide a country a way to make "reservations," or spell out the limits they will place on their adherence to the accord.
Philippines Ambassador Edsel Custodio said his country was ready to accept the agreement as it stood, but wanted to make a statement.
"It isn't a reservation. It isn't a qualification. It's just a clarification of some of the elements that concern us," Custodio said, but he didn't go into detail.
Some developing countries said they would only accept the pact on the understanding that measures to prevent smuggling would not add to the price of the drugs or make it more difficult for needy countries to get them.
The countries also noted that the agreement is supposed to be a short-term fix for a few years. They said they wanted to see work begin quickly to include the deal in the WTO's treaty on intellectual property rights.
Although it was possible the General Council meeting that began Friday afternoon could finish the accord, WTO spokesman Keith Rockwell said it was "very unlikely" that a decision could be taken before a meeting of trade ministers from the WTO's 146 member countries in Cancun, Mexico, opening Sept. 10.
Eduardo Perez Motta, Mexico's ambassador, acknowledged that having the agreement unresolved in Cancun.
"It isn't something that any member would like to discuss in Cancun," he said. "I don't think it's in the interests of anyone not to solve this topic before Cancun."
Rockwell said, "There is a problem with respect to the interpretation."
Hope for a solution was stirred late Thursday when the WTO's intellectual property panel approved a document first proposed last December that will let developing countries ignore some patent rules in importing drugs from cheaper generic manufacturers, along with a statement that aimed to calm the fears of U.S. drug companies.
However, when the WTO immediately reconvened the diplomats as the General Council, which has to give the final approval, differences began to emerge. Despite hours of closed-doors negotiating, agreement proved impossible.
"This is a serious humanitarian issue which cannot be done in a way which is not entirely clear," the meeting's chairman, Uruguayan Ambassador Carlos Perez del Castillo, said.
"We have to get this right, not just for us but more importantly for the people who desperately need these medicines."
Under WTO rules, countries facing public health crises have the right to override patents on vital drugs and order copies from cheaper, generic suppliers. However, until now they could only order from domestic producers - useless for the huge majority of developing countries that have no domestic pharmaceutical industry.
U.S. pharmaceutical research companies were concerned that a deal to allow countries to import generic drugs would be abused by generics manufacturers and could also lead to drugs being smuggled back into rich countries.
To satisfy those concerns, the document was accompanied by the new statement setting out conditions for the use of the measure.
The statement says that rules allowing countries to override patents "should be used in good faith to protect public health ... not be an instrument to pursue industrial or commercial policy objectives."
It calls for special measures to prevent drugs being smuggled back to rich country markets, including special packaging or different colored tablets. Developed countries would agree not to make use of the provision. Some of the wealthiest developing nations would only use the measure in "situations of national emergency or other circumstances of extreme urgency," it added.
Diplomats earlier had congratulated themselves on what they believed was a deal.
"This decision is extremely important for many African countries who need to be able to import generic drugs which are affordable and who don't have the capacity to produce them," said South Africa negotiator Faizel Ismail.
"This decision will contribute to creating the conditions for that to happen, and will certainly have an impact on the ability of governments to save many more lives.
Friday's failure likely will throw a huge cloud over the Cancun meeting and could jeopardize the chance of delegates reaching agreement on other issues as part of the current "round" of trade liberalization negotiations.
"Obviously this is deeply disappointing," Rockwell said. "This is an issue on which all of us wanted to see agreement.
"But in a consensus-based organization, making decisions is a difficult undertaking. All of the members have said they will continue to work on this."Associated Press Worldstream:
