India and the EU have reached an interim deal to prevent seizures of
Indian generic drugs in transit through the EU. "Finally, EU has come
around and we have agreed on an interim settlement... which means EU
will not make any detention within its territory of pharmaceutical
products coming from India. We will wait for the final settlement but we
have not lost our right to agitate on the matter again," said Rajiv
Kher, additional secretary in India’s commerce department. Indian
officials brought a case to the World Trade Organization, arguing that
the EU has been unlawfully seizing shipments of generic drugs in transit
from India to developing countries because of unfounded suspicions of
intellectual property rights violations. According to the agreement,
Indian drugs will now be allowed to pass through EU countries and
guidelines will be issued to all 27 EU Member States to that effect. In
addition, new regulations on the matter are to be introduced in the
European Parliament.
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