CENTRAL AFRICA STEPS BACK FROM SIGNING EPA, ASKS EU FOR PREFERENCE EXTENSION

Prospects for an Economic Partnership Agreement between the EU and eight Central African countries became even more uncertain on 29 October, when Central African ministers pulled back from signing a deal, saying too much work still needed to be done in terms of negotiating specific trade concessions and related development aid.

The EU had hoped to set the stage for concluding an 'interim' goods-only deal with the Central African states ahead of a key 31 December deadline (see BRIDGES Weekly, 17 October 2007). The deadline arises from the expiry of a five-year waiver under which WTO Members allowed the EU to maintain its unilateral preference scheme for African, Caribbean, and Pacific states, after which time they were to have negotiated reciprocal EPAs that would be WTO-consistent.
For the EU to extend the unilateral preferences beyond the end of the year without opening itself up to possible legal challenges at the WTO, it would need to seek a new waiver from all Members of the global trade body - and it is not clear that they would agree.

Nevertheless, the ministers signed a declaration asking Brussels to do just that, citing the need for the more time to work out technical issues related to the EPA, from the development of sensitive product lists and services liberalisation offers, to securing assurances about capacity building and aid to compensate for tariff revenue losses. However, the European Commission flatly refused a similar request for a 2-year extension from the West African ACP bloc.

Sources had suggested that this meeting would be the first in a quick succession of signings over the next few weeks. With the schedule well off track, the Commission is believed to be working overtime behind the scenes to ensure all six ACP regions will at least have partial accords in place by 31 December.

Some say the EU is placing undue pressure on the Central African and other ACP blocs, preventing them from working through the process properly. Nevertheless, the Caribbean seems to still be online for signing a comprehensive agreement. The Pacific region looks close to signing a "stepping stone" goods-only deal, though sources say this may be changing. Southern and Eastern Africa may also sign goods-only accords. The Commission has set up a joint task force with Central Africa in an effort to find consensus.

The eight Central African countries are Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Sao Tome & Principe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

ICTSD reporting; "Déclaration des Ministres de l'Afrique Centrale," NEGOTIATIONS DE L'ACCORD DE PARTENARIAT ECONOMIQUE AFRIQUE CENTRALE - UNION EUROPEENNE, 29 October 2007 ; "EU presses ex-colonies for fast trade deals," REUTERS, 31 October 2007

NEW US GOVT REPORT: US TRADE POLICY PAYING TOO LITTLE HEED TO PUBLIC HEALTH

A new US government report has found that the George W. Bush administration's trade policy since 2002 has focused on the protection of pharmaceutical intellectual property rights at the expense of public health concerns.

Senator Edward Kennedy (Democrat-Massachusetts) and Representative Henry Waxman (Democrat-California) on 30 October released a Government Accountability Office report evaluating the balance between intellectual property (IP) and public health policy in recent free trade agreements (FTAs). The study recommends that Congress "may wish to specify more clearly" how it wants the White House to balance IP protection and access to medicine during future trade negotiations.

Congress' grant of 'trade promotion authority' to the administration in 2002 gave it three principal negotiating objectives with respect to intellectual property: the first two called for boosting IP protections and enforcement abroad; the third, for respecting the 2001 Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health.

The Doha Declaration recognised the gravity of public health problems affecting developing and least developed countries, and reaffirmed WTO Members' right to use IP flexibilities to pursue public health objectives. These flexibilities include compulsory licensing, which allow governments under certain circumstances to authorise the generic reproduction of a patented product without patent-owners' consent.

The report found that since 2002, the administration had negotiated compulsory licensing allowances in FTAs with only two wealthy nations, Singapore and Australia. In all of the eleven FTAs the US Trade Representative had struck, IPRs were strengthened via three means: data exclusivity (slowing the approval of a generic producers marketing rights), patent extension (extending the duration of a patent), and patent linkage (forcing generic manufacturers to publicly challenge a brand name company's patent prior to production). These delay the arrival in the market of cheaper generics. The GAO found that the administration has made only "limited concessions on Doha Declaration flexibilities."

According to the GAO, the USTR defends its FTAs, claiming that they meet the Doha Declaration's requirements. The USTR argues that IP protection enhances global public health through encouraging the innovation of new medicines, and that the side-letters signed in conjunction with the agreements clarify a nation's rights in a public health emergency.

The GAO noted that the USTR has never reviewed the impact of FTAs on the promotion of public health. It suggested that the USTR's emphasis on IPRs could stem from historical US trade policy positions, the influence of pharmaceutical companies within the USTR's office, and the relatively small role of public health groups. Only two public health advocates sit on the USTR's advisory councils, compared to sixteen pharmaceutical industry representatives.

The report is available online at http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1580.

ICTSD reporting.