1. Negotiations
2. Thailand

Thai CSOs warn the senate’s subcommittee about the ongoing FTA negotiation with the EU on TRIPs-plus provisions harmful to access to medicines

Access to Medicines - 09 January 2025

Thai CSOs warn the senate’s subcommittee about the ongoing FTA negotiation with the EU on TRIPs-plus provisions harmful to access to medicines

The Subcommittee on Monitoring Thailand’s International Cooperation in Economic, Trade, Investment and Labor under the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs invited representatives of FTA Watch to provide information and comments on the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that Thailand is about to sign with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA); consisted of Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein), and that Thailand is negotiating with the European Union.

For the FTA between Thailand and the EFTA countries, which was concluded in November 2024 and were announced to be signed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, at the end of January this year, a representative from FTA Watch informed the Subcommittee that the Thai Department of International Trade Negotiation had informed that there were no provisions with concerns over intellectual property and other issues that would negatively affect access to medicines, universal health coverage scheme, and plant variety protection included in the content of the concluded negotiation. Intellectual property requirements stricter than TRIPs agreement (known as TRIPs plus provisions) – such as data exclusivity, patent extension, extension of the scope of patents, border measures, restrictions on the use of compulsory licensing, and UPOV 1991, and government procurement and investor-state dispute settlement were not included in the concluded content.

The Subcommittee shared information that the Department of International Trade Negotiation had been summoned to provide information earlier, and the Department had provided the same information as the FTA Watch had presented.

Kannika Kijtiwatchakul, Vice Chairwoman of FTA Watch, informed the Subcommittee that “Although the FTA negotiation with EFTA countries ended without any concerning provisions regarding intellectual property rights that affect access to medicines and small-scale farmers, if Thailand negotiates and agrees to sign FTA with the European Union, which has intellectual property provisions stricter than WTO’s TRIPs Agreement to which Thailand is a party, Thailand will have to grant such rights to other WTO member countries, including EFTA countries, which is in accordance with the WTO’s “Most Favored-Nation” (MFN) principle, whereby a member country grants special privileges to one country, it must also grant such privileges to other members. Therefore, it must be continuously monitored.”.

Chalermsak Kittitrakul, Project Manager for Access to Medicines of the Thai Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (TNP+) stated that “The EU has proposed in the FTA negotiation with Thailand to include provisions on intellectual property that are more stringent than TRIPS Agreement and contradicts the Doha Declaration, which will have serious impacts on access to medicines, public health, and the universal health coverage scheme. Thailand’s expenses on medicines will increase by hundreds of billions of Baht due to data exclusivity and patent term extension introduced in the EU FTA.”.

“The EU also proposes that Thailand opens up the government procurement market, which would require Thailand to repeal laws and policies that support the use of domestically produced drugs and medical supplies and that promote domestic R&D and innovation, including pharmaceuticals and medical devices and equipment. Such demands from the EU would destroy the domestic pharmaceutical and R&D industry and undermine the country’s medicine security in the long run. Ultimately, Thailand will have to rely on imported drugs and medical supplies and devices from abroad, which are patented and exorbitantly expensive.”.

“The EU also calls for Thailand to join the UPOV 1991 Convention, which will create a monopoly on seeds, and may include Thai herbs that will be researched and developed into medicines. In addition, the EU has proposed that Thailand open the market to import remanufactured products, that may include second-hand medical devices, which will cause problems with safety and accuracy in diagnosis and treatment, durability, and subsequent disposal burdens. It also wants Thailand to reduce import taxes on alcoholic beverages, which are products that pose a health threat.”.

The FTA Watch representatives made the following recommendations to the Subcommittee on FTA negotiation with the EU:

1. The Thai negotiating team must negotiate under the framework approved by the Cabinet and must not accept any provisions on intellectual property rights that is stricter than the TRIPS Agreement,
2. The government should accelerate the study of the impact of the opening of the government procurement market on access to medicines and public health, including the legislation on the offset policy, to be used as supportive information for the negotiation and to protect domestic industries and the public interests, and
3. The Thai negotiating team should propose the following provisions in the negotiation:

• Promoting the transfer of technology in a concrete manner that leads to innovation.
• Preventing inequality and negative impacts from commercial determinants of health, as recommended in the WHO and UN reports, so that polluters are held accountable and it will truly encourage sustainable trade and development.

In addition, FTA Watch representatives also made the following recommendations for the overall negotiation of all FTAs:

1. The FTA negotiations must be transparent and involve the participation of the public and stakeholders.
2. The government must disclose the content of the agreements and organize a hearing for opinions from all sectors during the negotiations and before signing the agreements.
3. The parliament must approve the negotiation framework before starting the negotiations and the contents of the agreements before signing and ratifying the agreements.
4. The government must have a quality and reliable study on assessment of the impact of the agreements on health, human rights, the environment and society, disseminate it to the public and use it in the negotiations.
5. The negotiating team must consider the interests of the public more important than the trade and investment interests of certain business groups.
6. The government should encourage the negotiating team, relevant government agencies and academics to work independently to protect the interests of the public in the negotiations, without interference and pressure from the political sector.
7. In the negotiations, the negotiating team must negotiate by not accepting any provisions affecting health, human rights, environment, and the society, having safeguard measures or exceptions to protect the public interest, and not limiting the government’s policy space to protect the public interests.
8. The government and parliament must support the amendment of the constitution in the section related to international agreements by using the content of Section 190 of the 2007 Constitution as a model, developing it to be more comprehensive, and taking into account the benefits and impacts on the public as a whole.

At the end of the meeting, the FTA Watch representatives supported the Thai government to ratify the ILO Conventions 87 and 98, as it promotes the protection of labor rights and is a guarantee for the recognition of the rights of both Thai and foreign workers to establish, unite and negotiate with employers, or to establish labor unions. This issue was proposed in the chapter on trade and sustainable development by the European Union. However, in the negotiation of the FTA with the European Union, Thailand must not accept intellectual property provisions stricter than TRIPS Agreement and other issues that will adversely affect access to medicine, health, the universal health insurance system, biodiversity, agriculture, food security and sovereignty, the environment, human rights and other social issues.