Turkey: European Commission Pushing on Data

UNCLAS ANKARA 005695

SIPDIS

USTR FOR LERRION/BPECK
USEU FOR CHRIS WILSON
USPTO FOR ELAINE WU
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/DDEFALCO
DEPT FOR EB/TPP/MTA/IPC, EUR/ERA, EUR/SE

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD KIPR TU
SUBJECT: Turkey: European Commission Pushing on Data
Exclusivity


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY.


1. (SBU) On September 29, Arslan Umut Ergezer, Economic
and Trade Officer with the EC Representation in Turkey,
discussed with Econoff the EC's newly-issued report on
practices in the Turkish pharmaceuticals industry,
particularly lack of data exclusivity protection. The
Trade Barrier Report unsurprisingly finds that Turkey
has not complied with the customs union and TRIPS
Agreement requirements to implement this protection by
2000/2001. The report urges Turkey, by the end of
October 2004, to implement data exclusivity or to agree
to abide by a decision by the European Court of Justice.
If Turkey agrees to neither of these options, the EC
will begin formal WTO consultations. Ergezer also said
that the report contemplates EU adoption of "trade
defense measures" against Turkey, though he opined that
trade sanctions are not likely to be imposed. Ergezer
did not provide us with a copy of the report.


2. (SBU) Ergezer told us that EC officials had delivered
the report to Turkey's Brussels delegation during the
week of September 20, and that Trade Commissioner Lamy
had pressed State Minister Tuzmen on data exclusivity
several times, during the Euro-Med summit, as well as in
a followup letter and telephone call.


3. (U) Note: Turkish officials contend that the TRIPS
Agreement does not require data exclusivity protection,
but have said that end-2007 is their target date for
implementing protection for confidential test data. End
Note.


4. (SBU) Comment: While the EC report is welcome and
complement's USG efforts to bring forward Turkish
implementation of data exclusivity, the GOT may not be
spurred to action by the prospect of dispute settlement
proceedings, which could drag on until close to the GOT
implementation target in 2007. Given the enormous stake
that Turkish generic manufacturers have in maintaining
the status quo and their ability to successfully lobby
the GOT, the GOT is not eager to address the issue.
Edelman