Even as the seventh round of negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement has kick-started in Thailand, health groups fighting for access to affordable healthcare for all have expressed concern over the potential adverse impact of these negotiations, particularly on issues related to intellectual property and investment protection.

Started in May 2013, the RCEP is being negotiated between the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries and Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

“We are extremely alarmed at reports that in the RCEP negotiations Japan and South Korea are demanding intellectual property protections from the developing countries of ASEAN and from India and China beyond that required by the World Trade Organisation (WTO),” says Shiba Phurailatpam of Asia Pacific Network of people living with HIV and AIDS (APN+).

“Across the region our members and networks rely on affordable generic medicines for their treatment. With only one in three people in the Asia-Pacific on HIV treatment, any provisions that hamper generic production and supply of affordable medicines will be a direct threat to the lives and health of millions in the region,” he says.

According to health groups, reports indicate that Japan and South Korea may be tabling demands beyond those required by the WTO (TRIPS provisions), such as patent term extension (patents longer than 20 years) and data exclusivity, that prevents governments from relying on clinical trial data to register generic versions of medicines even if they are off-patent, their patents have expired or are revoked & complicates the issuance of compulsory licences. Sources suggest that some IP proposals being put forward for the RCEP negotiations may also include a full range of TRIPS-plus provisions including patentability criteria, patent office procedures and enforcement measures including the detention of generic medicines in transit.

“The reason of these actions is clear,” says Anand Chabungbam from the Asian Network of People who Use Drugs (ANPUD). “In 2001, the prices of AIDS medicines dropped from $15000 to $350 per person per year because of competition from generic medicines. India, one of the RCEP countries supplies 80 per cent of adult and 90 per cent of paediatric AIDS drugs to the developing world. Developing and least developed countries in the RCEP negotiations must preserve their ability to take legal actions to ensure access to generic medicines,” Chabungbam says.