US Withdraws WTO Complaint Against Brazil

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AP International

U.S., Brazil End Aids Drug Hassle

by NAOMI KOPPEL

Associated Press Writer

GENEVA (AP) -- The United States has withdrawn a complaint it filed with the

World Trade Organization over a law Brazil uses to keep down the costs of AIDS

drugs, the two governments said Monday.

Brazilian trade negotiator Alfredo Graca Lima told reporters the two

countries had ''come to an understanding'' over the patent law, which requires

companies with patents to sell their products in Brazil to manufacture the

products there as well.

''It is a victory for both sides, a victory for common sense,'' he said.

In Washington, U.S. Trade Representative Zoellick said the U.S. case had

nothing to do with AIDS drugs and was a general patent case.

He said that even without the law, Brazil had other options to keep the costs of

AIDS drugs down. He noted that under WTO rules, a country experiencing a health

emergency -- like the AIDS epidemic -- can force local production of patented

drugs.

The United States went to the WTO in February to complain that the 1996

industrial property law violates patent protection rules. It gives the Brazilian

government the right to license a company's manufacturing rights to another

producer if it doesn't make its product in Brazil -- and imports it instead.

Brazil maintained that its laws are acceptable under WTO rules.

WTO spokesman Rockwell declined to comment, but added that WTO

Director-General Mike feels generally that it is better to settle trade

disputes ''out of court.''

International aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres, also known in English as

Doctors Without Borders, said the Brazilian government's program allowed it to

offer free treatment to more than 90,000 patients. That would be threatened if

Brazil had to accept higher-priced imported drugs.

Graca Lima said Brazil had agreed with Washington that it would give 10 days'

notice before it licensed a company's manufacturing rights to another company.

In a joint statement released in Rio de Janeiro, the two governments said that

they considered the agreement to be ''an important step toward a greater

cooperation between the two countries in relation to our common objectives of

the fight against AIDS and of protection of intellectual property rights.''

Ellen 't Hoen, spokeswoman for MSF's Access to Essential Medicines campaign,

described the agreement as ''very good news.''

''Local production of pharmaceuticals is at the core of Brazil's successful AIDS

program. Through local production they've managed to lower the prices of

retrovirals by 78 percent,'' she said. ''Because of the threat of this case we

were all very worried that Brazil would over time lose the ability to do that.''

In a statement, the Brazilian government said it felt ''great satisfaction'' at

the U.S. withdrawal of the complaint.

It said it believed its law is ''an important instrument available to the

government, in particular in its efforts to increase access of the population to

medicines and to combat diseases such as AIDS.''

AP-NY-06-25-01 1522EDT<

06/25/2001

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