On 28 August 2003 the British Medical Association (BMA) sent a letter to the UK delegation to the WTO Cancun Ministerial (see attached document).
On the same topic, Dr Edwin Borman (Chairman of the BMA International Committee) participated in the online web chat with Europe’s chief trade negotiator Pascal Lamy on Thursday 4th September.
The BMA submitted the following questions to the Trade Commissioner :
1. We note that the Chairman’s Statement accompanying the Decision of 30 August allows the referral of any matter relating to the Decision to the TRIPS Council for "expeditious review with a view to taking appropriate action". What is "appropriate action", and why were this and other additional procedures in the Chairman’s Statement, not included in the Decision itself?
2. How will an eligible importing Member be required to demonstrate that it has "insufficient capacity" to produce pharmaceuticals?
3. The only way developing countries will be able to pull themselves out of poverty will be through the opening up of markets. Does the European Union plan to reduce its subsidies and tariffs to enable developing countries’ goods to be imported into the EU?
No response from Commissioner Lamy has been posted on the DG TRADE website yet.
