Brussels, 28/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Deep and Comprehensive Free-Trade Agreement (DCFTA) currently being negotiated between Morocco and the EU will not include any measures to restrict Moroccan access to medicines. This news was warmly welcomed by Moroccan commentators. Media reports in the country relayed the comments made by Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht in his response made on Tuesday 22 May to a written question from French Socialist MEP, Gilles Pargneaux.
This question was submitted at the beginning of April, said the commissioner's press office. The MEP was particularly interested in the question of patent duration: “Increasing the length of time these patents apply would delay the arrival of generic medicines on the Moroccan market and would clearly be to the disadvantage of the Moroccan population”.
The commissioner stated in his response that he did “not intend to increase patent duration to 30 years and I do not intend to request Morocco to do likewise”. He added that “one of the main priorities in the European Union's trade policy is ensuring access to medicines in developing countries”. He also provided assurances that, “in all free-trade agreements, the Commission takes into account the level of development and concerns of its trade partners in public health matters”.
The Commission is therefore committed to guaranteeing the use of “facilities granted by the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRAIP)”. The Commission will “attempt to ensure that no provision in the agreement in the deep and comprehensive free-trade agreement challenges” this possibility. Nonetheless, the commissioner adds that “any individual obviously has the right to legal recourse to protest against any measure he believes is in breach of his essential right under national and international law”. (FB)