Wambi Michael
KAMPALA, Jul 21 2010 (IPS) – The U.S. s recent promotion of intellectual property (IP) rights in Uganda is an indirect way of introducing the Anti-Counterfeits Trade Agreement (ACTA) debate in East Africa.
This is the opinion of Nathan Irumba, Uganda s former ambassador to the World Trade Organisation, in an interview with IPS.
His comments come in the midst of an anti-counterfeit campaign in East Africa, which has led to bills being drafted that may threaten the importation and manufacturing of legitimate generic medicines.
The U.S. is among the countries negotiating ACTA, which seeks to establish a new international regime on IP rights enforcement. Health rights advocates fear that ACTA could create a new set of barriers to the export of generic medicines to poor countries.
Irumba said the enforcement of IP rights in East Africa could affect the flow of generic medicines by allowing any brand name manufacturer the flexibility to claim that its IP right has been violated with the importation of a generic medicine.
You will have a situation where a drug is seized at the border by customs officials just because the brand name drug manufacturer has complained, argued Irumba, who serves as an advisor to the nongovernmental Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Institute (SEATINI).
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His analysis partly springs from the several recent instances of EU customs officials seizures of legitimate generic drugs en route between developing states.
Edgar Tabaro, a Ugandan lawyer, agreed with Irumba, telling IPS that the proposed customs provisions of the East African Community (EAC) anti- counterfeit policy and law are problematic, as they would allow customs authorities to use own initiative in seizing goods suspected of infringing an IP right .
These comments come partly in response to a three-day regional workshop entitled Regional IP Protection: An East African Coordination hosted by, among others, the U.S. department of commerce and the U.S. patent and trademark office with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
About 100 IP enforcement officials attended the workshop which was held between Jun 9-11 in Uganda s capital of Kampala. The countries represented included Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda, Zambia, DRC and Malawi.
The workshop suggested IP standards for individual countries and made proposals for the regional EAC anti-counterfeit policy and law currently under consideration.
The U.S. ambassador to Uganda, Jerry Lanier, told attendees it would be a wonderful achievement if the (EAC) could take the lead in developing regional standards and enforcement procedures that will act as a model for other countries .
He added that, worldwide, there is increasingly recognition that effective IP rights protection is vital for public safety.
Counterfeit goods, including pharmaceuticals, are often substandard and have caused death. Combating (such products), the need for national and regional IP regimes is manifest, Lanier concluded.
In 2009 USAID created a 35 million dollar fund to fight counterfeit medicines proliferation in public health supplies.
Nnamdi Kalu Ezera, a senior attorney with the U.S. department of commerce, in an interview with IPS confirmed that, the U.S. department of commerce has an agreement with USAID to assist governments in East Africa and other selected African countries to strengthen their IP regimes.
In East Africa, (the department) is working through Kenya and Uganda to increase the consistency, efficiency and effectiveness of IP protection in the region and to enable the progressive and sustained elimination of pirated goods from the regional market.
Ezera told IPS that, it is not the intention of the U.S. government to impose any particular standard on East Africa. The idea that we have is a mutually beneficial one. It is not a question of protecting the interest of foreign pharmaceuticals but of protecting the interests of Africa s money-making industries, he said.
But Ugandan generic medicines manufacturer Quality Chemical Industries Ltd s marketing manager Geoffrey Nalima told IPS that he questions the motives of the U.S. government.
In his opinion, Washington is exploiting fears about fake goods for the benefit of its dominant brand name pharmaceuticals. Our concern is that this will affect the production and importation of generics and, hence, the affordability of medicines.
Nalima added that IP rights should be balanced with public health concerns, otherwise it will be hard for people to access essential medicines in a region like ours .
In a May 4, 2009 statement, Chris Singer, head of the international section of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), said PhRMA and its members place a high priority on addressing the harm caused by inadequate IP protection and by the market access barriers put in place by some U.S. trading partners.
We appreciate efforts underway at all levels by the U.S. trade representative, the departments of state and commerce, and the effective advocacy of U.S. overseas missions to promote compliance with international obligations. PhRMA represents the U.S. s leading pharmaceutical research and biotechnology companies.
In April 2010, Robert Hormats, under-secretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs, said, the department (is) stepping up our IP protection efforts. So are other federal agencies. The Obama administration is marshalling millions of dollars annually to organise government-to- government training programmes for judges, prosecutors and customs and border officials in key countries of concern.
We are actively collaborating with foreign governments to enforce (IP) rights around the world, Hormats added.
IPS has ascertained that U.S.-funded efforts to draft IP laws in Uganda first occurred in 2001. The Private Sector Foundation (PSF), formerly chaired by William Kalema, in 2001 received 15,000 dollars from USAID to facilitate workshops for the so-called TRIPS taskforce in Uganda. The foundation, representing business, was started with money from USAID.
Kalema is now a board member of the Investment Climate Facility, a regional business initiative active in the anti-counterfeit campaign.
The taskforce comprised the Uganda Law Reform Commission, Uganda Law Society, the judiciary (commercial court), Uganda Investment Authority, the ministries of justice, tourism, trade and Industry and the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology.
The taskforce was the main forum through which public policy on IP was being developed and formulated in Uganda. The money was used to facilitate workshops and prepare IP-related bills.