Hochi Vega, spokesman for the Federation of Idustrial
\nAssociations (FAI), said that the Dominican Republic would have to abandon the
\nrights to produce low-cost generic medicines using expired US patents under
\nWorld Trade Organization agreements if it docks to the Central American Trade
\nAgreement. He said Dominican legislation Law 20-00 authorizes local
\nmanufacturers to produce the generic medicines, which result in as much as 500%
\nreductions to the cost of medicines sold to the Dominican people. The Mej?a
\nadministration, however, in its courting of the US and the free trade agreement,
\nhas ignored the provisions in the law in favor of the multinational
\npharmaceutical industry.
\nVega told Hoy newspaper that the global trend is to reduce intellectual property
\nprotection of patents. But, he said, with this treaty the US also has plans to
\noblige the DR to extend patent protection to 30 years, up from 20 years at
\npresent. He said the CAFTA agreement also would eliminate the mandatory
\nlicensing of expired patents, despite this being in compliance with WTO and
\nlegal in the Dominican Republic.
\nIgnacio M?ndez, another spokesman for FAI, told Hoy newspaper that as things are
\ngoing, it looks like the DR is not negotiating a free trade agreement with the
\nUS, but simply signing whatever it is offered. As reported in the newspaper,
\nduring the process the Dominican Republic has seemed misguided. M?ndez said that
\nif the country accepts what the US wants, there will immediately be a FTA
\nbecause nothing will have been negotiated. M?ndez and Vega agree that the
\ncountry would have mortgaged its future in exchange for keeping the free trade
\nzone jobs.
\nM?ndez said that he does not understand why, if Chile spent 11 years discussing
\na bilateral agreement with the US, the Dominican Republic is being forced to
\naccept one in four months.
\nM?ndez also said that the DR had previously been the leader of the Central
\nAmerican and Caribbean negotiating team, up until the FTAA meeting held in
\nPanama one year ago, at which time the country did an about-face in its
\nnegotiating strategy and began to accept any terms the US wanted, thus
\ndismantling all the work that had been accomplished in trade negotiations to
\nthat point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hochi Vega, spokesman for the Federation of Idustrial Associations (FAI), said that the Dominican Republic would have to abandon the rights to produce low-cost generic medicines using expired US patents under World Trade Organization agreements if it docks to the Central American Trade Agreement. He said Dominican legislation Law 20-00 authorizes local manufacturers to produce … <\/p>\n