COSTA RICA
genuine manufacturers that they would accept lower prices. Hence, parallel imports can be a complement to established price control programmes.
T ere is an improvement to the accessibility of drugs and therefore, hopefully, in public heatlh. However, parallel imports can be a risky business since not all countries follow the exhaustion of rights principles, and some countries that do allow it still apply certain restrictions depending on whether the country of importation applies the concept of national, regional or international exhaustion.
Parallel imports and the supply chain
T e pharmaceutical supply chain is a complex business, involving four main players. Although the number of key players is low in comparison to other supply chain networks, the pharmaceutical supply chain is unnecessarily complex.
On a global scale, the fi rst team players are pharmaceuticals companies which are in charge of conducting scientifi c research and developing new drugs to treat diseases that aff ect humans. Second, wholesale distributors are in charge of purchasing drugs from pharmaceutical manufacturers and are primarily in the business of inventory management, warehousing, fulfi lment and distribution of pharmaceuticals.
Next, pharmacy benefi t managers are the primary interface between the insurance plan, the customer, and the pharmaceutical manufacturer or the wholesale distributor. Finally, the pharmacy is the last team player and the customer-facing part of the operation.
To be able to reduce the risk of counterfeit medicines entering the industry, it is of utmost importance that pharmaceutical companies secure and strengthen their supply chain systems. Furthermore, current practices in various countries such as allowing re-labelled, re-boxed or over-stickered products may lead to the damage of identifi cation numbers, so the identifi cation of counterfeit products may become very diffi cult.
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On the other hand, individuals and entities that are legally engaged in parallel importation of pharmaceuticals must follow a series of basic rules to enter the territory of a specifi c country. Parallel traders importing without any rules may open the product in order to simplify the exportation of the goods to countries where the labelling and packaging requirements may diff er.
Basic rules such as keeping strict control on manufacturing practices, maintaining accurate control of the packaging and labelling of products, and verifying the validity of the marketing authorisations in both the origin and destination country can grant a more secure scenario for parallel importations.
T e key issue that may lead to problems in this type of trade is that the products are damaged during the importation process. In normal pharmaceutical business, each stage of the pharmaceutical chain is rigorously checked and respected by all the actors in the production, distribution and sale of the pharmaceuticals, while parallel traders usually do not abide by these quality standards.
The Costa Rican situation
Costa Rica is one of the countries that follow the international exhaustion of rights principle, and therefore parallel importations are allowed. Article 6 of
the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS) sets forth that: “For the purposes of dispute settlement under this Agreement, subject to the provisions of Articles 3 and 4, nothing in this Agreement shall be used to address the issue of the exhaustion of intellectual property rights.”
Article 27 of the Law on Trademarks and Other Distinctive Signs in Costa Rica states that: “Trademark registration does not confer on its proprietor the right to prohibit a third party from using the mark on any legitimately marked products introduced into commerce in the country or abroad, the owner or other person having the consent of the owner, provided that
World Intellectual Property Review e-Digest 2013 57
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