Import Safety Rules Should Not Hinder Legitimate Generic Drug Markets: The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)

Abstract:     
Trade agreement negotiations are routinely cloaked in secrecy, a model that may have suited the Eighteenth Century, but has no place in modern democracies. Transparency deficits have led to capture by powerful industries, sometimes to the detriment of public health. This is a standard account of the WTO TRIPS Agreement, but the pattern is being repeated, in a new regime, in the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and related efforts. In the context of pharmaceuticals, ACTA should be limited to deliberate trademark violations and should not be expanded to encompass other intellectual property rights such as patent infringement. Recent seizures of generic medicines by Dutch authorities highlight the danger to legitimate and valuable global generic drug markets from overzealous enforcement of border control regimes.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 30

Keywords: counterfeit, drug, pharmaceutical, Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, ACTA, IMPACT

JEL Classification: K11, K23, K33

Accepted Paper Series