Indian drug exporters to benefit from change in EC norms

The Netherlands has assured India that the incidents of generic drugs seizures in Europe would not recur once the European Commission amends its regulations.

"We have to change the European regulations and we are looking forward to the European Commission (EC)," said Marten van den Berg, Deputy Director General for Foreign Economic Relations in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Netherlands.

In 2009, several consignments of Indian generic drugs enroute to Africa and Latin America were detained by custom authorities of the European Commission, particularly in the Netherlands.

It was alleged that the Indian pharmaceutical products had patent violations in Europe. The Indian government contested these claims and the matter was taken up at the ministerial level after which the EU had assured India that it would find a solution.

Berg said, the new EC rules would ensure that such cases do not "happen any more".

India's $12-billion pharmaceutical industry, gets 40 per cent of its revenue from exports of generic drugs. The generic drugs are the ones on which patents have expired.