India is ready to launch a formal dispute against the European Union at the World Trade Organisation over EU seizures of Indian generic drugs, the Indian Trade Secretary said on Wednesday. "I am ready. I have my legal briefs ready," Rahul Khullar told Reuters, without saying when India could present a case.
New Delhi says it wants to solve the dispute "amicably" but there has been no breakthrough so far between India and its largest trading partner. Khullar said India was still holding out for a solution. Khullar, a top civil servant key to Indian negotiations, also said the Doha world trade talks were "standing still" and India was waiting for the United States to move the talks forward.
A formal trade dispute has loomed for a long time between India and Brazil on one side and the EU on the other. Developing countries believe the case, originally involving the seizure by Dutch customs of a blood pressure drug en route from India to Brazil, is a symbol of their mistreatment by rich nations and corporations.
India has said the drug shipments were consistent with WTO regulations. The issue is sensitive in a country with a thriving generic drugs industry and hundreds of millions of poor needing access to cheap medicine. A spokesman for the EU said in response that the EU was taking the drugs seizures "very seriously" and had implemented measures that prevented further incidents.
"We are now revising the relevant EU legislation to ensure that trade in generics is not hindered when transiting through EU territory," European Commission trade spokesman John Clancy said. "However, we also need to acknowledge that there are serious problems of counterfeit medicines which are arriving and transiting in Europe," he added.
Global demand for generic drugs from Indian drugmakers such as Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Ranbaxy Laboratories and Cipla Ltd is booming as nations battle rising healthcare costs. The Indian generics business boom has lured Western drug makers that want to raise exposure in fast-growing emerging markets. The dispute over seizures has rumbled in the backdrop of negotiations between India and the 27-nation EU bloc for a free trade deal which both sides aim to seal by October.
Trade between India and the EU currently stands at 78 billion euros ($105 billion). Brussels says the pact could open up export opportunities worth $9 billion for India. Negotiations began in 2007 but need to close differences on issues such as market access and the EU's moves to link commerce to India's performance on child labour and the environment.