In a special session about TPP at the Chilean House of Representatives, Heraldo Muñoz, the local Foreign Affairs Minister, identified intellectual property and pharmaceutical patents as the most sensitive issues for Chile in the negotiation.
In a two-hour session at the the House of Representatives Chilean Foreign Affairs Minister Heraldo Muñoz presented the benefits and the costs of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for Chile, and answered questions made by representatives, especially regarding intellectual property and US certification. The session was requested by 45 representatives, led by the former student leader and current representative for Santiago, Giorgio Jackson, with the intent to have more information about the secretive negotiations on TPP.
At the occasion, Muñoz recognized intellectual property and pharmaceutical products and patents as the most sensitive issues for Chile in the negotiation, and clarified that “we will not take new commitments on intellectual property beyond what we already have, or modify our internal legislation.”
Even though the Chilean Health Minister, Carmen Castillo, was summoned by the representatives, she excused herself from attending. However, Muñoz answered some critical questions regarding products and pharmaceutical patents, saying that Chile will not accept the United States proposal of 12 years of exclusive data protection for biological products:
“We have told to our counterpart, and we are going to continue telling them that if there is not an acceptable agreement, we will not sign”.
Additionally, the Minister was emphatic on the TPP certification process and the possible consequences on the Chilean sovereignty: “United States can have their own internal certification systems, but we have been emphatic to not accept any interference in our regulatory sovereignty. And if so, the agreement will not enter into force”.
After Muñoz intervention, the draft agreement presented by Giorgio Jackson and other four representatives in order to ask for more transparency in the TPP negotiations, was rejected by the majority.
Nonetheless, Claudio Ruiz, executive director of Derechos Digitales, a regional civil society organization that has led the criticism on TPP in Chile through the “TPP Abierto” (Open TPP) campaign, was satisfied by the Minister’s declaration:
“This is the first time the Minister of Foreign Affairs is clear publicly regarding not to accept any provision on the Intellectual Property chapter that goes beyond the FTA with the United States. And it’s also the first time the National Congress is clear regarding their demands to the government, both from the governing coalition and the opposition: not to accept an agreement at any cost.”
For Ruiz, Internet rights and access to medicines are part of the key aspects Chile should not concede as a trade negotiation. “The Congress was clear about it and it was a clear political signal that the Minister and their negotiators should hear”, he added.
– Claudio Ruiz
derechosdigitales.org
