June 26, 2003
Letter Regarding Compulsory Licensing for Drugs
The Honorable Robert B. Zoellick
United States Trade Representative
Winder Building
600 17th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20505
Dear Bob:
As you know, the United States Council for International Business (USCIB) strongly supports the efforts you and President Bush are undertaking to secure the launch of a new round of trade negotiations at the upcoming WTO ministerial meeting in Doha. The purpose of this letter is to reiterate our equally strong opposition to the inclusion of intellectual property rights in such a new round of negotiations. Our membership, which includes companies in all industries and fields of technology, considers the agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) a major achievement of the Uruguay Round. Accordingly, we urge the United States government to resist and avoid any steps that might result in reopening the TRIPs agreement, or in modifying and weakening it in the guise of purported “clarifications.”
As discussions intensify in preparation for the WTO ministerial meeting, a primary objective must remain full implementation and enforcement of the TRIPs agreement. While many WTO member states have taken meaningful steps to comply with their TRIPs obligations, others have not. In light of these conditions, USCIB believes that any consideration of new norms relating to intellectual property rights should be postponed until compliance with already negotiated commitments is achieved. Our position on this issue is shared by two international business organizations of which we are the U.S. affiliate -- the International Chamber of Commerce and the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD.
USCIB is also opposed to any efforts to seek “clarifications” of TRIPs before or at Doha, as is reportedly now being urged by some other governments. If successful, such efforts could effectively reinterpret and undermine important provisions of the TRIPs agreement. While the purported need for modification is most often cited in relation to patent rights and access to essential medicines, the implications are much farther reaching. Issues such as international exhaustion of intellectual property rights and compulsory licensing are of great concern to all intellectual property rights holders. Similarly, all of our members have an interest in ensuring that the broad, non-operational statements of the objectives and principles of TRIPs do not become vehicles to create exceptions or loopholes where none were intended.
We hope that you will bear these considerations in mind as the ministerial meeting nears. Please do not hesitate to call me if I can provide further information about our position.
Sincerely,
Thomas M.T. Niles
cc: Hon. Colin L. Powell
Hon. Donald L. Evans
