Proposed Consensus Solutions on Thailand –USA FTA: Effects on Drug and Health Systems

Friday 27th February 2004
Reception Hall 1-2, 3rd Floor, Parliamentary Building 2
Bangkok THAILAND
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The purposes of the seminar on “Thailand – USA FTA: Effects on Drug and Health Systems” are: to analyze the up coming effects of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on intellectual property rights regimes on drug and health systems in particular; to brainstorm to reach consensus on the aforesaid issue among Thais at both operative and policy levels including to distribution information to public for common solution. There are 120 participants composed of senators; academics; representatives from related governmental offices, from non-governmental organizations and from mass media. The essence of the seminar is as followed.

The international arena forced by the globalization trend and international politics and economy allow countries with more power to have opportunities to take resources from developing and less developed countries by using different forms of mechanism at different levels, for instance, WTO at the world level, NAFTA at the regional level and FTA at the country level.

FTA is the strategy often applied by the United States of America as a temptation in order to access into the inter-trade market of agricultural products while the US gains intellectual property rights as well as investment and services for those exchanges. The profits from agricultural products after an FTA party entering to the US market are far less than expected because the US operates other mechanism through its policies to prevent those imported products in the US market not to have effects to their farmers. Technically, the US has set the extreme standing points during the negotiation and gradually has drawn back which makes the other party fells as if their benefits, as negotiated, are still received.

From the model of US - Singapore (or US – AU) FTA on intellectual property, it reveals that the US gains benefits more than what they gain from TRIPS. The instances are extending patent protection period, providing data exclusivity rights, limiting the circumstances for compulsory license(CL) and parallel import(PI), creating barriers for the development on sciences and pharmaceutical technology which obstruct people to access to medicines causing problems on life and health. It is what Thailand must realize because of the facts that patented drug are costly and there is no mechanism yet to control the drug prices. For example, the drug to cure fungus – Fluconazole costs ten times higher than generic drug. Moreover, in 1999, Committee on Drug Patent in Thai Patent Act was also abolished.

The network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP) over 600 groups in Thailand has long lastingly fought for the rights to access to medicines to cure HIV/AIDS. More than 50,000 names proposed for the bill drafting for national health security to the Thai Parliament; urging The Royal Thai Government (RTG) for the CL in order to produce anti-Aids drug: didanosine (ddI) tablet, but the RTG would not allow whereas the US also applies this mechanism for the anthrax case. By the time the correlated fighting succeed in the abolishment of patent over ddI tablet , there were already many HIV-Aids patient suffered. The accomplishment of the fight resulting in improved the access to medicine; and urging the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) produce the off-patent anti-Aids drug at the price of 5% of patented drug . Ministry of Public Health and Social Security Funds can provide anti-Aids drug to patients for over 50,000. If the issue on intellectual property rights of drug and health system with the US extreme standing points above mentioned is included in the FTA between Thailand and USA, our future in being able access to medicines will all be ignored.

The important matter from the analysis of USTR Notifies Congress of Intent to Initiate Free Trade Agreement Negotiations with Thailand proposed to American Congress on 12th February 2004 obviously shows that USTR will gain enormous benefits from doing FTA with Thailand. However, what Thai people understand from messages the RTG conveyed to us is otherwise. Besides, there is an attempt to push the negotiation to reach its aims in order to avoid any anti-forces. Experiences from countries entered into FTA with the US evidently reveal that it returns only short-term benefits and only among some particular groups. The long-term benefits merely fall to laborers working in big business. As for the health service such as hospital, spa, and Thai traditional massage, the RTG plans for those to be in the strategic service so that the inter-trade party will agree for the export laborers.

Thus, in making the statement for the standing points of FTA between Thailand and USA, this seminar reaches the consensus that the administrative authority shall comply by rules of law.It means that legal procedure with social justice shall be employed. At the same time, pharmaceutics, medicine, life and health shall be treated more important than economic values. The six solutions in the respective order are as followed.

Item 1. Principally, the issues related to pharmaceutics, medicine, life and health must be excluded in the FTA between Thailand and the United States of America.

Item 2. In compliance to Constitution of Thailand, the government is obliged to pay respects to sovereignty in order to lead the state to be bound with international agreement. The process in exercising the sovereignty shall recognize people rights to participate in the decision-making process and the people participation shall involve in the negotiation process in order to reach consensus prior to/and during the negotiation on the basis of transparency and good governance. The proposed negotiation issues as well as the issues during the negotiation shall be made open to public. Public hearing shall also be arranged to gain consensus and/or for the studies of its effects before the next negotiation starts.

The RTG should allow questioning and general debates without voting for the bill on each negotiated issue in the Parliament so that the drafted FTA will be carefully considered. The said general debates should be made before the government asks for an approval for the FTA in accordance with article 224 of the Constitution of Thailand,

The above mentioned process is the well initiated as good tradition which can be the principle for the future state practice. Therefore, there shall be no obstacle, no limitation or no claim that the government would raise to refuse to proceed the proposed procedure.

Item 3. The contents in the FTA shall limit the agreement on intellectual property rights related to drug and health systems , must not beyond the articles in TRIPS, denial on the TRIPS Plus on the extension of terms of patenting, and data exclusivity rights on drug and chemical substances. In addition, the government shall show the brave intention to protect people life and health by applying compulsory licensing for the essential medicines as well as the parallel import so that the patient can access to medicine.

Item 4. In the light of people participation for the designation of public policy on the systems of pharmaceutics, medicine, life and health, for the most benefits to Thai society, different professions in public health and consumer organizations shall play important roles in exercising rights to accessing to information, giving opinions, sharing decision making as well as participation in investigation.

Item 5. Information exchange and the disclosure of information to public shall be made. It is substantial in making Thai society to realize the issues of FTA between Thailand and the United States on the systems of pharmaceutics, medicine, life and health. Therefore, the Thai government shall be obliged and shall promote the disclosure of information to public by all means for people participation via radio, television, newspaper and internet in the forms of public debates and academic forum.

Item 6. In the negotiation process leading to any international agreement, not only representatives from Department of Trade Negotiation, Department of Intellectual Property Ministry of Commerce; Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Office of Food and Drug Administration under Ministry of Public Health, but also it is most important that academics, non-governmental organizations and people networks shall also be involved in the participation process, in respects of civil rights and fair response to people life and health.

The above six solutions as being consensus proposed to the RTG are for the administrative authority to proceed and to disclose to the public.

On the occasion that the Prime Minister will make yearly announcement to the Thai Parliament in this coming March, Senate Standing Committee on Social Development and Human Security, Senate Standing Committee on Public Health, Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, will bring these proposed consensus solutions to the government so these shall be integrated into the government policy on FTA between Thailand and the United States on drug and health systems and shall be conveyed to people ultimately

Co-organized By

Drug Study Group (DSG)
Senate Standing Committee on Social Development and Human Security
Senate Standing Committee on Public Health
Social Pharmacy Research Unit(SPR), Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Chulalongkorn University
FTA WATCH and Social Agenda Working Committee