EU Border Measure Regulation : A Threat to Access to Public Health in Developing Countries and Least Developed Countries

Public Health had been a burning topic in WTO, especially with the evolution of TRIPS Agreement. The uniform patent regime which was introduced through TRIPS had a negative impact on the efforts made to assure access to medicines to the people of the Developing Countries and the Least Developing Countries (LDC). The worldwide demand to dilute the terms under TRIPS which were hindering the effective access to ensure public health had resulted in the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and the August 2003 decision of WTO. Though the Declaration and the subsequent August Decision contained big words like compulsory licensing and parallel imports, the underlying conditions and framework is ambiguous and at places contradictory hindering the proper implementation of the same. The fact that these contradictions shall prove restrictive was evidenced by the seizure of Indian pharmaceutical consignments transiting through EU ports. Further the tiresome procedures to be followed to obtain a compulsory licence, is also a deterring stumbling block. India though have a much wider provision regarding the compulsory licensing took more than 6 years to grant its first compulsory licence. This paper thus intends to examine whether the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS & Public Health can be sabotaged by the Intellectual Property maximalist agenda of EU and the effectiveness of Doha Declaration in facilitating access to medicines