As India and European Union moved closer to conclude the proposed Free Trade Agreement in Brussels with a high-level summit, the public interest groups in the country continued to raise concerns about the clauses in the proposal and called for more clarity on the deal before its signing.

The high-level summit, involving European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is expected to provide a strong impetus for an early conclusion of a broad-based investment and trade agreement.

“In the last few months, the European Commission, in a blatant attempt to mislead the public, press and millions of patients concerned about continued access to generic medicines from India, stated that, “nothing in the agreement would stop India to produce cheap generic medicines.” Further it has stated that it is fully committed to promoting and facilitating access to medicines while negotiating free trade agreements,’’ said Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+).

“The EC’s attempts to negotiate TRIPS-plus measures that - seek to put a stop to the production of affordable medicines in India - are well documented. For anyone looking for proof, one has to look only at the leaked text of the EU-India FTA negotiating texts to verify EC’s actual demands on IP particularly for data exclusivity and IP enforcement measures,’’ the statement said.

Such misleading statements and deliberate attempt to keep the text secret not only discredit Europe in the eyes of the developing world but also increasingly put at stake its reputation of upholding and respecting human rights. “DNP+ continues to be concerned as the IP and investment text of the agreement is still not there in the public domain,’’ it said.

“My friends and colleagues in India are already facing the impact of the intellectual property regime mandated by the TRIPS agreement. Patents in India have meant that people living with HIV who are co-infected with hepatitis C have to pay not less than 10,000 US$ for the treatment regimen that has been patented in India (pegylated interferon).” – said Loon Gangte from the Delhi Network of Positive People.

“In the midst of this growing crisis, the India-EU FTA negotiations have now opened up the possibility of further increasing intellectual property standards without even considering the impact of the current product patent regime on our lives,’’ he said.