India-EU drug row heading towards long drawn battle in WTO

NEW DELHI: Row over seizure of Indian generic drugs by several European countries on the high sea appears to be heading towards a long drawn battle in the WTO as the two sides could not resolve the issue by consultations.

"We are not satisfied with the talks," a senior official said here.

India and the 27-nation European Union bloc have already held two rounds of consultations in Geneva at the behest of the World Trade Organisation.

The latest round of consultations was held on September 13-14.

While another round of bilateral talks may be held soon, the issue appears to be going towards the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO, sources said.

In the past few years, customs authorities in EU, especially the Netherlands, seized about 17 drug consignments belonging to Indian companies while they were en route to their export destinations in African and Latin American nations, including Brazil.

The EU alleged the shipped drugs were violating its patent regime. However, India had contested the claims, saying these were off-patent or generic drugs.

Brazil has also joined the consultations and supported India, the official said.

India's $20-billion pharmaceutical industry gets 45 per cent of its revenue from the export of generic drugs.