Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

Ambassador C. Trevor Clarke (Barbados)
European Union
A A. NOTIFICATIONS UNDER PROVISIONS OF THE AGREEMENT
5. The representative of the European Communities said that Regulation (EC) No 816/2006 on compulsory licensing of patents relating to the manufacture of pharmaceutical products for export to countries with public health problems had been published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 June 2006, and that it would enter into force on 29 June 2006. With this Regulation, the European Communities had created a legal basis for the granting of compulsory licences for export purposes, as foreseen in the WTO General Council Decisions of 30 August 2003 and 6 December 2005. He hoped that this Regulation would contribute to making key medicines more easily available to countries not disposing of sufficient production capacities in the pharmaceutical sector. 6. The aim of the Regulation was to transpose the WTO General Council Decisions faithfully and completely, without any restrictions or unnecessary burdens. It contained provisions preventing the re-import of products exported under a compulsory licence. Like a contractual licence, a compulsory licence created a contractual bond between the patent holder and the licensee, with the sole but important difference that the will of the patent holder was substituted by a decision of the public authority. The Regulation set out in detail the obligations of the licensee towards the patent holder.
IP/C/M/51