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| (Photo: The Javorac) |
A new wave
of protests in defence of internet freedom is on its way. On Saturday,
demonstrators will target the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement or ACTA for
short. The agreement is aimed at setting a worldwide standard in the protection
of intellectual property rights, covering everything from music to medicine. In
Europe, doubts are beginning to grow.
ACTA was
initially designed to halt the dangerous trade in counterfeit medicines.
Following lengthy negotiations, held largely behind closed doors, the agreement
has now been submitted to the United States, Australia and the European Union
for approval.
Under
pressure from the United States, the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement has been
expanded to combat online piracy. The main focus of the protests is the threat
to an open internet, the ban on free downloading and the prospect of providers,
search engines and users being vulnerable to prosecution.
Monopoly
But the consequences
go much further, warn aid organisations such as the IDA Foundation. IDA
campaigns for affordable, good quality medicines for developing countries.
Managing Director Edwin de Voogd believes ACTA serves only the interests of the
pharmaceutical industry and violates previous agreements.
“This
agreement has the potential to block the legal trade in medicines from a
producer in India or China to a poor country. All to defend the interests of
the pharmaceutical industry: its patent rights and the monopoly they create.”
The World
Health Organisation previously agreed conditions under which countries (mainly
India and China) are permitted to produce and export generic medicines to
developing countries, even if the patent has not yet expired. These include
products such as malaria tablets and AIDS medicines. Pharmaceutical companies
have given this deal their blessing.
Dubious
pills
In addition
to this legal trade, there is a much shadier circuit. Developing countries are
flooded with dubious pills, powders and potions which do nothing to improve
public health. In the West, this problem tends to be limited to the online sale
of fake Viagra made in China. Paul Wouters of Nefarma, a Dutch association
geared towards innovation in medicine, insists we need ACTA to tackle such
abuses.
“If we’re
not careful, counterfeit medicines could also end up in the regular circuit. We
are not talking about good quality copies that happen to come from a different
factory. Many of these products are bad and even contain ingredients that can
be fatal to patients. If you want to monitor the chain effectively, it’s
important to protect intellectual property.”
Black
market
Wouters
acknowledges that pharmaceuticals are a billion-dollar industry and that ACTA
is needed to safeguard that revenue. It costs millions to develop new medicines
and the industry recoups its outlay through patents. Things go wrong when
manufacturers and recipient countries sell medicine from countries such as
India in the West.
“It’s sad
but true. In developing countries too, there are people who unscrupulously
pocket medicines intended to help people so that they can trade in them. It’s
an unfortunate reality that we cannot ignore.”
Wouters is
calling for aid organisations to redouble their efforts. “They have to ensure
good infrastructure that prevents these medicines being re-routed to wealthy
countries.”
Strict
customs
Eighty
percent of the cheap HIV/AIDS medicines that Médecins Sans Frontières gives to
patients in Africa come from India. But the patent-protecting measures
contained in ACTA jeopardise this production and trade, says Aziz Rehman of
MSF.
“ACTA
provides additional rules under which the import of those medicines can be
stopped. The customs authorities in different ACTA countries can stop drugs on
the basis of suspicion. They can say that drugs being imported from India
apparently violate certain patent rights or trademark rights. On the basis of
those allegations they can stop and seize those drugs in their country.”
Rehman says
it can be weeks before a bona fide consignment is released. In some cases, the
authorities destroy a medicine without even waiting for the results of the
investigation. A handful of Indian manufacturers are already thought to be
considering shutting down their operations.
MSF is
convinced that, in practice, ACTA removes the possibility of producing cheap
and effective medicines for poor countries. Ironically, this will drive up the
price of medicines. And higher prices encourage counterfeit production.
Secrecy
The wording
of the agreement is the result of years of secret negotiations between Japan,
the US and the European Union. Talks even took place beyond the confines of the
World Trade Organisation. Civil society organisations were shunned, while major
companies were able to have their say. Developing countries were also kept at
arm’s length. But as ACTA emerges into the open, this closed circuit approach
may yet backfire.
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| The anti-piracy proposals have prompted protests across Europe |
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