The Indian government's series of proactive measures to counter the seizure of Indian drug shipments by European Union (EU) nations at their ports during its transit appears to be paying dividends as there have been no reports of such incidents during the last more than a month. As a result, the Indian authorities have put on hold its earlier decision to file complaint at WTO against the EU decision.
"The government is closely watching the situation. There have been no reports of seizure of Indian drug shipments at EU ports at least during the last one month. The EU seems to be reviewing its strategy and the Indian government's next action will depend on the course of events in the future in this regard," a senior union commerce ministry official said. The official, who was recently at WTO headquarters in Geneva to review the situation, said the Indian government has not filed any complaint with the WTO against the EU nations in this regard so far.
During the last couple of months, the union commerce ministry has been taking several proactive measures to find an amicable solution to the issue of increasing incidence of seizures of Indian drug shipments at EU ports on charges of counterfeiting and patent infringement. Apart from taking up the issue with the European Commission, the Indian government had raised the issue at the WTO executive committee meeting some time back.
The Indian government also raised the issue with the World Health Organisation also. In fact, WHO had expressed concern over the issue and had offered assistance to resolve the issue.
Besides, union commerce minister Kamal Nath had taken up the issue with his Dutch counterpart during the latter's visit to India on February 10. Providing details to the Dutch minister on the recent actions of the customs authorities at Rotterdam in the Netherlands who seized shipments of the generic drug Losartan, Kamal Nath had asked the visiting Dutch minister to relax regulations on patent and trade mark issues so that at least the drug shipments on transit cannot be seized at the EU ports on charges of counterfeiting and patents infringement.