Issue brief |

The Investment Chapter of the EU-India FTA: Implications for Health

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND TRADE
European UnionIndia
ACCESS_briefing_factsheet_InvestmentChp_EUIndiaFTA_ENG_2011.pdf

Background

  • EU-India FTA negotiations began in 2007, and are scheduled to end in 2011;
     
  • Lisbon Treaty transferred to the EU exclusive competence over Foreign Direct Investment issues;
     
  • January 2011: European Commission (EC) requested expansion of its investment negotiating mandate for the EU India FTA in order to negotiate investor protections on behalf of the EU. The mandate remains under consideration in European Council;
     
  • On 6 April 2011, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on a future European international investment policy wherein the European Parliament insisted that investment chapter “provisions should avoid negatively impacting the production of generic medicines and must respect the TRIPS exceptions for public health”. An additional EP resolution regarding the EU-India FTA, adopted on 11 May 2011, also called on the Commission “to ensure that provisions on investment protection do not lessen the parties’ ability to issue compulsory licenses or undermine other public health policies.”;
     
  • EU Member States have Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) with very high levels of investor protection. These protections are provided at the expense of governments’ abilities to legislate in the public interest. This mistake should be rectified in the new EU investment policy.