[e-drug] Imports of generics in francophone Africa

[catherinegavin@bluewin.ch]

E-drug: Imports of generics in francophone Africa
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Dear all,

Please find bellow the integral text of an information memo recently
posted on internet by the Managment of OAPI.

This memo clearly indicates that imports of generics are possible in the
OAPI countries, on the basis of a simple administrative decision from
the competent Minister, so actually through governmental use.

16 countries are members of OAPI, or African Organisation of
intellectual property: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa,
Rep. of Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial
Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad and Togo.

Catherine GAVIN
Legal Advisor
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

_______________

http://oapi.wipo.net/index_angl.html

INFORMATION MEMO ON THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE REVISED BANGUI AGREEMENT

The Bangui Agreement is the law governing industrial property rights in
each of the member states of the African Intellectual Property
Organisation (OAPI).

Established on 13 November 1962 in Libreville, this Organisation has now
sixteen member States : Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central Africa,
Congo, Côte d?Ivoire, Gabon,  Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea,
Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad, and Togo, and a population of
more than 100 million inhabitants. Its headquarter is in Yaounde,
Cameroon.

According to the Bangui Agreement and its annexes, the protection of
intellectual property rights in OAPI member states covers the following
areas: patents, utility models, trade marks, industrial designs and
models, trade names, geographical indications, and literary and artistic
works. This Agreement was revised in Bangui on 24 February 1999; the
revised Agreement  and its annexes I to VIII entered into force on 28
February 2002. Annexes IX and X of that act, bearing on the
layout-designs (topographies) of integrated circuits  and new plant
varieties respectively will come into force later .

By revising the Bangui  Agreement of 2 March 1977, OAPI member States
wanted :

- to make its provisions consistent with the demands of international
treaties relating to intellectual property, to which the member States
are parties, especially the Agreement on Trade-Related  Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (Agreement on TRIPS);
- to streamline the procedures for issuing certificates;
- to broaden  the base of objects for protection ; and
- to fill up some legal gaps.

The revised Bangui Agreement, like its previous versions, aims   to
enhance creativity, protect  the  inventor?s rights, guarantee
investments, facilitate technology transfer, fight against poverty, and
see to the well-being and security of the population of member States.
It provides a legal framework that remains open to any development
likely to occur in this ever evolving domain.

Since 1962, the Organisation has been issuing patents that protect
inventions of products or processes in all the technical fields,
including pharmaceutical products.

The revised Bangui Agreement has maintained the life-span of patents at
twenty years, which is the minimum duration for protection provided by
international treaties.

On the expiry of protection, exploitation of products protected by
patents becomes free. Any such patent is then said to be of public
utility. As regards pharmaceutical products, they become essential
drugs. Periodically, OAPI makes available, to economic operators of its
member States, the list of public utility patents for possible exploitation.

The revised Bangui Agreement states that a patent may be exploited
without the permission of its owner under certain conditions. As a
matter of fact, Annex I on patents stipulates in its Article 56 that ?
Where certain patents are of vital interest to the economy of the
country, public health or national defense, or where non-working or
insufficient working of such patents seriously compromises the
satisfaction of the country?s needs, they may be made subject, by an
administrative enactment of the competent Minister of the member State
concerned, to the non-voluntary license regime.?

Thus, when a member State, for purposes of  public health, deems that
access to medicines should be improved, the competent Minister may, by
an administrative decision, designate  an administration  or an
organisation to benefit from non-voluntary license regime to
manufacture, import or sell products protected by patents.

The revised Bangui Agreement provides for  cases of possible differences
between its provisions and those of other international treaties. To
this end, Article 17 of the Agreement stipulates that: ?In the case of
discrepancies between the provisions of this Agreement or its Annexes
and those of the international conventions to which the member States
are parties, the latter shall prevail ?.

By revising the Bangui Agreement, OAPI member States are manifesting
their determination to defend the interests of their population and
render their economic sphere attractive to investments and technology
transfer.

In conclusion, the revised Bangui Agreement enables each OAPI member
State to take measures likely to enhance the protection of public health
in general and facilitate access to medicine in the light of the DOHA
Declaration. There is, hence, no risk of conflict between the revised
Bangui Agreement and any possible laws ensuing   from the DOHA
Declaration.

Management OAPI

Contact
OAPI   P.O. Box 887-Yaounde-Cameroon
Tel. (237) 220 57 00/220 39 11
Fax (237) 220 57 27/220 18 44
http://oapi.cm
E-mail; oapi@oapi.cm


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