Pharmabiz | 28 January 2026
Public health group demands release and discussion on full text of India-EU FTA
Raising concerns over the lack of clarity in the India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on the terms related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protection beyond the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, the Working Group on Access to Medicines and Treatment urged the Central Government to release the full text of agreement and place it before the Parliament for discussions.
Billed as the "mother of all deals", Prime Minister Narendra Modi and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, on January 27, jointly announced the conclusion of the FTA at the 16th India–EU Summit, held during the visit of the European leaders to India.
The Working Group points out that the European Commission's press release states the agreement provides for a high level of protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property (IP) rights, including copyright, trademarks, designs, trade secrets and plant variety rights.
The Commission states that the FTA builds upon existing international IP treaties and brings Indian and EU intellectual property laws closer and it will make it easier for EU and Indian businesses that rely on IP to trade and invest in each other's markets.
While the statement demonstrates that India has agreed to IP protection and enforcement standards that go beyond the minimum obligations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) agreement on TRIPS agreement, it does not mention patent related provisions or clarify whether the agreement includes controversial TRIPS-plus measures such as patent term extensions, pharmaceutical data exclusivity, or other forms of market exclusivity for medicines.
"This lack of clarity is a serious concern," said the Working Group, adding that it recall that when negotiations were relaunched in 2022, the European Union’s proposed IP text explicitly sought patent term extension and data exclusivity protection for pharmaceutical products.
In the previous rounds of negotiations, particularly during 2007-2013, India had rejected these TRIPS-plus demands following strong opposition from civil society, patient groups, and public health advocates.
"We caution against repeating the approach adopted in the FTAs with EFTA and the UK that risk having a direct or indirect impact on access to affordable medicines," it added.
The recent practice as seen in the EU–Mercosur agreement, reflects a shift away from the inclusion of patent related TRIPS-plus provisions in FTAs. This precedent should be followed in the EU-India agreement.
The Group requested the Government of India to clarify and ensure that the final text does not include any TRIPS-plus provisions, particularly patent term extensions and data exclusivity, which would compromise the availability of affordable medicines.
Besides, it also urged the government to "immediately release the full text of the agreement for public scrutiny and place it before the Parliament for detailed discussions prior to signing, to enable informed debate on the FTA's implications for public health."
India plays an important role as a supplier of affordable generic medicines to low- and middle-income countries, and any weakening of its patent laws or regulatory framework through FTAs risks having an impact not only patients in India, but also millions worldwide who depend on Indian generic production, it added.
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