Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2005-11-30-Speech-3-179"
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"en.20051130.16.3-179"2
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, what we are discussing is something that at first sight appears simple and logical, but which, on closer examination, results in significant problems, up to and including the protection afforded by patents being undermined or rendered ineffective. I am today speaking on behalf of my colleague Mrs Weisgerber, who is unable to be here for personal reasons.
This House goes beyond the Commission proposal in demanding the extension of compulsory licensing not only to needy WTO members, but also to over 40 other states equally in need of help. While there is agreement across group boundaries that the group of eligible countries should be expanded as a political indication of willingness to help countries that are not members of the WTO, it is equally possible to find this objectionable.
Even though we have gone to a great deal of trouble to seek – and, it is to be hoped, to find – a fair balance between the claims of the poorer countries on this planet and the licence-holders’ justifiable interest in protecting their patents, there is still a great deal of uncertainty. Who, in the final analysis, is in a position to monitor the re-labelling or repackaging of medicines and to prevent their being reimported into the European Union – the Member States at national level, the Commission, the importing countries, the industry or the drugs business? Are we not, by doing this, giving people a licence to create considerable problems for us at a later date? With the situation that we can currently observe, with people making great profits from the illegal trade in medicines across every border and by every route – ranging from the Internet to across the traditional shop counter – I have to say that I have misgivings.
I will be taking the liberty of asking the Council and the Commission, at regular intervals, how the figures stand and how many compulsory licences have been applied for, and I look forward to receiving accurate data in response. I understand that the British Presidency of the Council wants to notch this up as a success for itself.
The Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats endorses the proposal on generic medicines for developing countries."@en1
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