The WTO has offered to mediate to resolve the issue between the members concerning recent seizure of generic drugs shipment from India by the Dutch authorities, even as the world health advocacy groups stepped up alarm on the issue and the European Commission defended the action on the other hand.

In the reply sent to the public activist groups which raised the issue, WTO director general Pascal Lamy said he was ready to help members. "As you are ware, the delegations of Brazil and India raised this matter at the WTO's general council meeting and later at the TRIPS Council meeting. On those occasions, the delegation of the European Communities reiterated its commitment to the efforts being made to facilitate access to medicines. I understand that the matter is being further explored at the bilateral level between the members concerned… I nevertheless remain ready to help members who require my assistance to help find a solution to disagreement with other members, if this disagreement were to persist," he said.

Meanwhile, health advocacy groups like Oxfam International, Health Action International (HAI) and Knowledge Ecology International (KEI) have issued a strongly worded statement calling on the European Union to review and modify its regulations on counterfeiting that are prompting the seizures.

The groups said they "condemn the unacceptable seizure of legitimate generic antiretroviral medicines in transit from India to Nigeria by Dutch customs authorities." The shipment's delay could lead to HIV-positive Nigerian patients missing 'critical treatment', said Sophie Bloemen of HAI, who also urged the EU to reconsider inclusion of its regulation in regional free trade agreement negotiations. If it does not, "this could prove disastrous for access to medicines in their regions," she said.

Judit Sanjuan of KEI called the seizures "unacceptable," and asked that WTO director general mediates in the dispute, as he indicated a willingness to do so. NGOs also are awaiting a reply on the issue from World Health Organization director general Margaret Chan.

Meanwhile, the European Commission made a statement recently at the TRIPS Council meeting saying the shipments were 'temporarily detained', not 'seized'. The Commission representative insisted the EU that there has been absolutely no intention to hamper legitimate trade in generic medicines or to create legal barriers to trade, and said the EU customs regulation "is fully in line with the WTO and TRIPS requirements, in terms of scope and coverage of customs intervention."

The Commission also said that a two-month EU customs operation called MEDI-FAKE late last year targeted illegal medicines and involved 6 million items, which confirmed a "significant and worrying level of trade in illegal medicines indicating a potentially serious public health and safety issue, which fully justify the control of medicines in transit suspected to infringe IP rights."