EU AGREES TO NEW BANANA TARIFF OF EUR 176 PER TONNE

EU member states overcame internal disagreement on 25 November to agree on a reform package for their banana import regime that would set their most-favoured nation (MFN) tariff level at EUR 176 per tonne from 1 January 2006. It is, however, far from clear whether this offer would be sufficient to end the EU's longstanding dispute with Latin American banana producers. Honduras already attacked the new tariff for being too high and vowed to challenge it at the WTO.

After the EU's banana import regime was found to be WTO-inconsistent in 2001, Members granted it the so-called 'Cotonou waiver,' which allowed the EU to maintain preferential access for African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) banana exports -- so long as the move to a tariff-only regime by 1 January 2006 maintained total market access for Latin American MFN producers. The waiver allowed MFN banana exporters to seek arbitration if dissatisfied with the EU's proposed tariff levels. WTO arbitrators have already rejected two EU proposals for tariffs of EUR 230 and later EUR 187 per tonne (see BRIDGES Weekly, 2 November 2005).

A 23 November vote on a EUR 179 per tonne tariff was postponed when some banana-importing member states argued that it was too high, and would protect European banana farmers and former colonies at the expense of EU consumers (see BRIDGES Weekly, 23 November 2005).

Honduras -- which along with several Latin American banana producers has been calling for a tariff closer to EUR 75 euros per tonne -- has threatened to challenge the new tariff at the WTO. Costa Rican government officials also insisted that they would push for a lower tariff level.

In a press release, EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson left open the possibility of "further negotiation with our Latin American partners in order to reach a mutually satisfactory solution."

The European Commission press release is available at:
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/1493&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en.

ICTSD reporting; "EU Agrees on 176 Euro Banana Tariff In Attempt to Meet WTO Orders, ACP Needs" "EU New Banana Tariff Annoys Latin America," DAILY TIMES, 27 November 2005; "Honduras Plans to File WTO Complaint on New EU Banana Plan (Update 2), " BLOOMBERG, 29 November 2005; "The European Union (EU) agrees on New Banana Tariff" 29 November 2005, JAMAICA GLEANER 29 November 2005.

TAIWAN ISSUES COMPULSORY LICENSE FOR TAMIFLU

Taiwan has become the first country to issue a compulsory licence for the generic production of Tamiflu, the only drug currently available for the treatment of avian flu, in order to ensure that the country has sufficient quantities of the medicine in the event of a pandemic.

Taiwan recently ordered 2.3 million treatments of the drug from Swiss pharmaceutical manufacturer Roche, which holds the patent on Tamiflu. These are set to be delivered by the middle of next year. However, this would only be enough to cover ten percent of the population. In order to avoid damage to the country's reputation for protecting intellectual property, the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) has indicated that in the event of a national emergency it would exhaust the stockpiles of the patented drug purchased from Roche before reverting to generic copies of Tamiflu (called oseltamivir) produced under compulsory license. The Taiwanese government has reportedly already made small amounts of oseltamivir, and the TIPO has trained two local companies to produce it. Roche has suggested that a fallback on compulsory licenses would likely prove unnecessary.

Meanwhile, Roche has indicated that it does not have patent protection for Tamiflu in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. These countries are thus free to legally produce the drugs for their domestic markets without applying for compulsory licenses. It remains to be seen whether other countries in the region will attempt to utilise the '30 August 2003 Decision' (see BRIDGES Weekly, 4 September 2003) to import generic copies of Tamiflu. To date, no countries have utilised the waiver to import generic drugs for public health crises.

In recent months policymakers all over the world have explored options to allow for the production or import of generic versions of Tamiflu, even in countries such as the US that have traditionally resisted the generic production of drugs still under patent.

"Taiwan Licences Tamiflu for Local Companies, FINANCIAL TIMES, 26-27 November 2005; "Roche Confirms Ability to Supply Pandemic Tamiflu to the People of Taiwan," ROCHE MEDIA NEWS, 25 November 2005; "Indonesia Says to Begin Making Tamiflu in 3 to 5 Months," REUTERS, 26 November 2005; "Taiwan to Bypass Roche, Make Tamiflu," TAIPEI TIMES, 26 November 2005; "Thailand 'free to Produce own Tamiflu,'" BANGKOK POST, 29 November 2005; "Taiwan OKs Tamiflu Production," REUTERS, 26 November 2005.