[e-med] Déclaration des ministres de la santé sud-américains sur les droits de propriété intellectuelle, l'accès au médicaments et la santé publique

["Carinne Bruneton" <c.bruneton@remed.org>]

[en attendant une version française...CB]

Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 15:00:24 +0200
From: Thiru Balasubramaniam <thiru@cptech.org>
To: ip-health@lists.essential.org
Subject: [Ip-health] Unofficial English translation of "DECLARATION OF 
MINISTERS OF SOUTH
 AMERICA OVER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, ACCESS TO  MEDICINES AND PUBLIC HEALTH"


The original Spanish version was signed by the Minsters of Healh from
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru,
Uruguay and Venezuela gathered in the city of Geneva, on 23rd May 2006.

------------
Déclaration des ministres de la santé sud-américains sur les droits de propriété intellectuelle, l'accès au médicaments et la santé publique

DECLARATION OF MINISTERS OF SOUTH AMERICA OVER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY,
ACCESS TO MEDICINES AND PUBLIC HEALTH

Ministers of Health from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela gathered in the city of
Geneva, on 23rd May 2006,

Considering that:

Access to medicines and critical raw materials is an integral part of
the right to health, which is a basic human right of every individual
and a fundamental prerequisite that governments have a duty to ensure.;

Medicines and critical raw materials are key in the healthcare of
people. Nonetheless, large populations in the world, and particularly
people in developing countries, lack or have very limited access to
these health tools;

The provision of patents in the pharmaceutical sector has gained
increased relevance in the region since the enforcement of the Agreement
on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in the
World Trade Organisation;

We are aware of the soaring burden of diseases and conditions that
disproportionately affect our countries, and particularly those
illnesses that mostly affect women and children, as well as of the
health problems that are emerging or re-emerging, including neglected
and non communicable diseases;

Significant price increase is being recorded in the area of government
programmes related to pharmaceuticals and in the direct costs to
consumers, as well as in the market prices; this is a consequence of the
patent system which concerns health products that are essential for the
prevention and/or the treatment of serious public health conditions,
leading to a deterioration of access to essential drugs;

Our countries have in different ways adopted all the flexibilities and
safeguards in our national legislations, as provided by the Agreement on
Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), and as
reiterated in the Doha Declaration on Intellectual Property Rights and
Public Health signed in Doha, Qatar, on 21st November 2001;

A growing concern is emerging globally, made explicit in several
Resolutions and Declarations by international and intergovernmental
bodies, in relation to governments=92 responsibility to grant access to
essential medicines and tools to respond to public health needs;

Both in the Andean countries=92 group and in the MERCOSUR, Ministers of
Health have developed their work on the issue of access to essential
medicines, thereby considering aspects of intellectual property and
public health;

A continued dialogue must be fostered at the regional level concerning
the impact of intellectual protection on access to drugs, leading to the
adoption of concerted measures in order to ensure the supremacy of the
public interest over commercial concerns

WE DECLARE OUR COMMITMENT TO:

1. Promoting the implementation of the Doha Declaration on Intellectual
Property Rights and Public Health in our own countries, and particularly
the decision of the TRIPs Council (Decision IP/C/W/405, dated
30/08/2003), in relation to the provisions regulating paragraph 6 of the
Declaration mentioned above =96 granting of compulsory licences and use of
parallel importing mechanisms =96

2. Promoting public opinion awareness about the importance of
Intellectual Property Rights and Public Health in terms of the
successful implementation of the safeguards and flexibilities included
both in the agreement and in the Doha Declaration;

3. Strengthening international cooperation initiatives, seeking
technological capacity by means of
a. promotion of strategic alliances for technology transfer.
b. promotion of strategic alliances for the development of science,
technology and innovation.
c. Creation of a Technical Assistance Network for our countries, to be
limited to issues of intellectual property that are relevant to health.

4. Maintaining the flexibilities provided in the TRIPs Agreement in
bilateral and regional agreements, while seeking to
a. facilitate the use of compulsory licences, parallel importing and
=93Bolar exceptions=94 ;
b. avoid the broadening of the scope of patentability and the extension
of patentable areas (for example: therapeutic methods, plants and
animals), and second uses;
c. avoid the linkage between the granting of the patent and the granting
of the marketing approval, in addition to avoiding any other clause that
may include =93TRIPs plus=94 arrangements;

5. Seeking the active role of our Ministries of Health in the
negotiation of bilateral trade agreements, in the negotiation among
regional groups as well as in the process of modification, updating and
consolidation of national intellectual property rights norms, by means of:
a. affirming the needs of the health sector with technical supports,
based on the Doha Declaration on Intellectual Property Rights and Public
Health, and the declaration of the UN Millennium Development Goals ;
b. training health professionals in the domain of intellectual property
rights, including their current and future repercussions with regards to
access to essential medicines.


6. Promoting and supporting the continued international dialogue on the
impact of patent protection on access to essential medicines and
critical raw material, by means of research initiatives and exchanges of
experiences;
7. Recommending the promotion of studies allowing the monitoring of
drugs prices and the effects of the TRIPs Agreement in the domain of
public health in our countries, with the intent of identifying
alternatives to the current system that may contribute to the promotion
of innovation and the transfer of technology, while favouring social
appropriation at accessible costs.


In the city of Geneva, on 23rd May 2006.