Monsieur P. Lamy
Commissioner for Foreign Trade
European Commission

Fax: 0032 2 298 1399
 
November 5, 2001
 
Dear Commissioner Lamy,
 
Health Action International-Europe held its annual general meeting on November 3 and 4 with representatives from countries in Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America, Asia and North America. One of the crucial issues that we discussed was access to essential medicines for poor populations. Members presented the situation in Moldova, Armenia and Peru where incomes are very low and prices of individual patented medicines are unaffordable for the majority of the population. With the proposed expansion of the European Union, the problem of unaffordable medicines will become critical for citizens of the EU as well.
We would like to stress that access to essential medicines is a basic human right, falling under the right to health enshrined in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Several United Nations human rights committees have affirmed this position and have concluded that states have the responsibility to ensure this right when making decisions in international fora.
Next week the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the WTO will take place. The issue of access to essential medicines in relation to the interpretation of the TRIPS agreement will be high on the agenda. HAI-Europe is very concerned that the outcome of the negotiations on this issue will be of no help to the millions of patients and consumers all over the world who need better access to essential medicines.
Your position in the upcoming debate will be of decisive importance.

HAI-Europe strongly urges you to adopt a Ministerial Declaration affirming:

  • that nothing in the TRIPS agreement can prevent national governments from taking measures to safeguard public health;
  • the right of national governments to make full use of compulsory licensing and parallel importing including the recognition of the right to import and export medicines manufactured under compulsory license
We call upon you to support the contents of the EU non paper that was tabled at the September 19, 2001 meeting of the TRIPS Council. We also urge you to reject the restrictive option put forward by the United States, Switzerland and other countries.
We wish you wisdom during the negotiations.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
Ms. Marybeth Morsink, Chair
The HAI-Europe Association Board
 
HAI Europe
J. van Lennepkade 334 - T
1053 NJ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Tel: + 31 - 20 - 683 3684
Fax: + 31 - 20 - 685 5002
e-mail: info@haiweb.org