US members of Congress Hilda Solis, Henry Waxman, Charles Rangel, Ciro Rodriguez, Sherrod Brown, Sander Levin, Linda Sanchez, Thomas Allen, Jim McDermott, Raul Grijalva, Xavier Becerra and Pete Stark have sent President George W Bush a letter, dated 30 September, addressing concerns that provisions in the DR-CAFTA free trade agreement signed by the US and Dominican governments are adverse to the wellbeing of Dominicans. The legislators state that certain facets of the DR-CAFTA restrict the access to cheaper generic drugs, which violates agreements previously signed by the United States with the World Trade Organization (Doha Declaration). The DR-CAFTA is pending congressional approval in the US and DR legislatures for it to go into effect.
The legislators say that the inclusion of intellectual property restrictions in US bilateral free trade negotiations with developing countries in Latin America would grant five to eight years of exclusivity for brand-name pharmaceutical products, even where patent barriers no longer exist. “For any patient, five years without access to affordable drugs can mean the difference between life and death,” argued the legislators. The group objects to the fact that the Bush Administration has refused to include explicit exceptions to protect public health or references to the Doha Declaration in the text of the trade agreements. It is furthermore opposed to the fact that US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick has instead proposed the use of side letters, as put forward in the DR-CAFTA, because the language would need to be resolved through legislative history. They urge that the language in the FTA be clear and specific in order to meet the public health needs of the countries’ citizens and enable them to continue to use the flexibilities explicit in the Doha Declaration, including parallel imports and compulsory licenses. For the complete letter, see http://www.dr1.com/news/2004/101304_pharmaceuticals.pdf