Reservations on EU proposal on compulsory licensing expressed by pharma trade group

A coalition of several European organizations, including the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), have been closely monitoring the developments regarding the EU Commission proposal for a regulation on European Union compulsory licensing for crisis management .

As the Council prepares its position, it is important that the necessary time is taken to appropriately address key unresolved issues of the original proposal. While some improvements to the proposal were adopted by the European Parliament, including greater involvement of the rights-holder, a requirement for attempted voluntary licensing, and a reasoned approach to remuneration, there are other problematic provisions that remained, such as inadequate judicial review and forced technology transfer/trade secret sharing, the coalition members note.

It is crucial to ensure that society has access to crisis-relevant products or services. However, they firmly believe that, in its current form, this initiative will undermine innovation and competitiveness of European companies, ultimately impeding Europe's ability to tackle future crises effectively. Weakening IP in this way also sets a negative precedent internationally. It is important to address the myth that IP stands in the way of innovation when it is the opposite.