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RCEP & intellectual property

An analysis of the leaked IP chapter proposed for the RCEP shows that Japan and South Korea are proposing intellectual property (IP) provisions referred to as TRIPS-plus, which go far beyond the obligations under the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

The proposed provisions seek to extend pharmaceutical corporations’ patent terms beyond the usual 20 years and also would require data exclusivity that limits competition. Such provisions are a cause for great concern among public health groups over their potential adverse impact on access to affordable medicines.

RCEP also treats IP as an investment made by investor corporations, allowing private investment disputes (ISDS) to be raised against the host country whenever there is a threat to their IP. Treating IP as an investment, and subjecting it to treaty arbitration, can have undesirable impacts on the hard-bargained flexibilities in IP laws and on public health safeguards that countries like India have earned over the years.

Further, civil society groups have expressed concern about the copyright protection standards proposed under the RCEP IP Chapter which could stifle creativity and free speech.

The leaked IP chapter also pushes for accession by all RCEP member states to the 1991 Act of the International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV 1991), to which only seven of the RCEP negotiating countries are already member. UPOV 1991 provides monopoly rights to plant breeder rights at the cost of farmers’ rights, making it illegal for farmers to save seeds of protected vartieties.

Data exclusivity provisions in the IP chapter may extend the patent protection periods of agrochemical products as well, putting upward pressure on food prices.

RCEP governments must recall their international, regional and national commitments to respect, protect and fulfill the right to health including the right to access affordable medicines. In their quest for greater economic integration, RCEP negotiating countries must not put the lives and health of millions of people in the Asia-Pacific region at risk.


16-nation RCEP talks resume in wake of TPP’s demise
The RCEP Kobe conference is the first round of negotiations this year and the first since U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was canceling America’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The Kobe meeting will set the tone for the remaining negotiations this year, however NGO representatives, noted that the TPP would be the elephant in the room.
RCEP and health: this kind of ‘progress’ is not what India and the world need
Concerns remain over the impact of RCEP negotiations on public health and access to medicines.
Law professors address RCEP negotiators on copyright
The recent death of the TPP has thrust RCEP further into the spotlight, and raised the stakes both for its sixteen prospective parties, and for lobbyists with designs to stamp their own mark on the text’s intellectual property and e-commerce chapters.
MSF calls on Japan and South Korea to drop the harmful RCEP measures
The intellectual property provisions initiated by Japan and South Korea go far beyond the requirements needed under international trade rules.
A ’new’ recipe for trade
With other mega regional trade agreements like the Trans–Pacific Partnership in uncertainty, trade treaties like the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will acquire greater significance beyond their original ASEAN-centred grouping. The RCEP needs to be tracked for its implications for both the global trading system and the livelihoods of people.
TPP is dead, but its legacy lives on
The Trans-Pacific Partnership was dead long before Donald Trump signed his executive order. But its damaging aspects, like stringent IP provisions, have just migrated to other agreements
Walking the fine line between IP and public health
The rise of a protectionist US under President Donald Trump, may have long-term implications on India’s public health objectives
Will the RCEP morph into another TPP?
In highlighting that the drafts of many of its key chapters are substantially similar to those of the TPP, Sanya Reid Smith warns that the RCEP may end up as a replica of the former.
Trade deals can have adverse impact on access to generic medicines
Interview with Dr Peter Ghys, interim director, strategic information and evaluation, UNAIDS
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, intellectual property protection and access to medicines
This paper identifies TRIPS-Plus provisions in leaked RCEP negotiating texts and examines their implications for low and middle-income countries.
Regional trade meet should not pave way for monopoly in drugs: Doctors without Borders
Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and other health groups have reiterated concerns about harmful intellectual property provisions in the RCEP
On World AIDS Day, threat to access to medicines looms large
As trade negotiators from 16 countries gather in Indonesia to deliberate the terms of trade agreement — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement (RCEP), access to low-cost generic medicines is under grave threat.
MSF press release: RCEP trade deal negotiators must reject terms that would harm access to medicines
International medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), along with other health groups, reiterated concerns about harmful intellectual property provisions in the proposed agreement that would increase market monopolies for pharmaceutical corporations and delay or block access to affordable generic medicines.
Call for Govt to help our neighbours negotiate for life-saving medicines
The Public Health Association (PHA) is asking the NZ government to step in and help our neighbouring countries negotiate better deals for life-saving medicines.
Activists fret about RCEP impact
Access to affordable medicine and farmers’ control over seeds could be undermined by the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership being negotiated between Asean member countries and six other trade partners, says FTA Watch in Thailand
An open letter to the sixteen governments negotiating the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
95 health, community and development organisations in the Asia Pacific region call on trade negotiators from sixteen countries in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership agreement negotiations to ensure access to medicines is protected. We the undersigned organisations call on negotiators to protect health and reject all TRIPS plus intellectual property measures in the RCEP.
Open letter to ambassadors (in India) of RCEP negotiating countries by Delhi Network of Positive People
Member countries must consider the impact of RCEP on access to medicines in developing countries
The Aids revolution is why Asean, India and China must resist controls on generic drugs
Affordable generics have transformed medical treatment, yet intellectual property provisions in a China-led regional trade deal could block access to life-saving drugs for millions in Africa and Asia
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The latest round of RCEP talks paints a worrisome picture for the global south, given that it will bring 3.5 billion people and 12% of world trade into its fold.
Where does India stand on intellectual property rights in the digital economy?
A scrutiny of TPP, TISA and RCEP provisions that deal with IP and the digital economy vis-a-vis the current Indian legal standard.