India to retain generics production right under India-EU trade pact

India's right to produce and export cheap life-saving medicines will in no way be affected under the proposed India-EU trade and investment agreement.

This is the outcome of talks between commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht, who discussed the treaty at a meeting recently in Brussels agreed that the treaty would incorporate this as its core provision.

The two ministers are understood to have decided in their meeting not to tighten the intellectual property rules on production and export of generics.

The decision is likely to be announced by European Commission president Jose Barroso and prime minister Manmohan Singh during the India-EU summit in Brussels later in the week week.

Generics are copies of drugs, patents for which have expired in the country of production and are sold at much cheaper prices than the patented medicines.

The decision has come amid concerns in sections of civil society that agreements that would impinge on the rights of the poor to have access to cheap medication should be avoided.