The plurilateral Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) that has been mired in controversy since its signing in 2010 faces another roadblock with one of its members, the European Union, likely to reject the Agreement. […]
India had also not favoured the ACTA. The main area of concern for Indian companies in the pharmaceutical sector had been the provision in the agreement to set up procedures for IPR rights-holders to petition customs authorities to seize suspected goods in transit between third countries. This clause has been controversial for Indian companies since the seizures of Indian medicines in the Netherlands on their way to Brazil stating that they do not meet the EU’s IPR requirements.
Indian industry has pointed out that there are several TRIPS-plus obligations in the ACTA. It was feared that if EU ratifies the agreement then it would like India to be party to it as part of the on-going India-EU bilateral trade and investment agreement (BITA) . However, with the EU now likely to reject the agreement due to internal opposition the inclusion of these provisions in the India-EU bilateral agreement have been removed. […]
http://business-standard.com/india/news/t-s-vishwanath-acta-asvillain/473871/