Brussels, 14/07/2014 (Agence Europe) - On the sidelines of the sixth round of free-trade negotiations between the EU and US in Brussels this week, a coalition of European and American NGOs active in the field of health - led by Action Health International Europe - have requested the exclusion of an investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism from the future TTIP agreement.
The inclusion of such a mechanism will undermine EU member state health policies and will seriously compromise access to affordable medicine and the protection of public health, warns this coalition of NGOs - which also includes Health Global Access Project, Commons Network, Knowledge Ecology International Europe, Salud por Derecho, and the Medicines in Europe Forum. “ISDS is neither needed, nor justified, in TTIP. Both the EU and the United States have well-developed legal and court systems in place to handle disputes”, states Action Health in a press release published on 14 July.
In a joint response to the public consultation on the modalities for investment protection and ISDS in the TTIP, the coalition warns that adding “intellectual property” to the definition of “investment” in the ISDS will strengthen the protection of intellectual property and thus enable pharmaceutical companies to sue EU member states that take measures to improve access to medicines or to exclude less effective treatment from reimbursement. The coalition therefore calls on the Commission to exclude both intellectual property from the definition of “investment” and the ISDS mechanism from the investment chapter of the TTIP.
“ISDS will equip pharmaceutical companies with a means to challenge EU member states' or regulatory bodies' use of legitimate TRIPS [Ed: WTO agreement on intellectual property] flexibilities, such as patent reform and compulsory licensing. This is bad news for patients and consumers. Greater intellectual property protections delay the market entry of cheaper generic medicines, keeping medicine prices substantially higher, affecting availability and affordability”, states Health Global Access Project. “Without doubt, if ISDS is allowed in TTIP, governments will end up refraining from implementing measures that improve access to affordable medicines for citizens for fear of being sued”, concludes the Commons Network NGO. (EH)