Global Affairs recently announced that the Government of Canada is seeking the views of Canadians on a proposed fifth review of the 1994 Record of Discussion on Trade in Pharmaceutical Products (the arrangement) concluded among the World Trade Organization members of Canada, the European Union, Japan, Macao (China), Norway, Switzerland, and the United States.
The current arrangement covers nearly 9 000 pharmaceutical-related products. However it has been suggested that the coverage of the arrangement be expanded to include additional compounds published by the World Health Organization (WHO) as Proposed International Nonproprietary Names.
The Government of Canada is seeking to identify the interests of Canadians in terms of product coverage as well as any concerns with the proposed elimination of Canadian tariffs for these products. To help inform this process, the Government is embarking on a public consultation process to give all interested stakeholders an opportunity to provide input. Parties wishing to contribute to this process are invited to provide responses to the following three questions:
- Do you support the proposed fifth review of the product scope of the Record of Discussion on the Trade in Pharmaceutical Products? (Please provide a rationale for your response).
- Do you face tariff barriers in any participant countries with respect to exports of pharmaceutical ingredients or intermediates? If so, are they related to specific pharmaceutical ingredients or intermediates? Please provide the Harmonized System (HS) subheading codes.
- Do you have any views on the elimination of Canadian import tariffs on the pharmaceutical ingredients and intermediates listed by the WHO? If so, please provide a description of the ingredients or intermediates and their HS subheading codes.
The deadline for receiving input and comments is March 10, 2017. Please be advised that any information received as a result of this consultation will be considered public information, unless explicitly designated as private. Submissions should include the contributor’s name and address and, if applicable, his or her organization, institution or business.
Additional information on the Record of Discussions of the Trade in Pharmaceutical Products is found on the WTO website.
Questions and contributions may be sent by mail or email to WTO Pharmaceutical Initiative, Tariffs and Goods Market Access Division (TPG), Global Affairs Canada, 111 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G2; email: tpg@international.gc.ca.
Questions or comments regarding the Canadian tariffs should be sent by mail or email to WTO Pharmaceutical Initiative, International Trade Policy Division, Department of Finance, 90 Elgin Street, 14th Floor, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G5; email: fin.tariff-tarif.fin@canada.ca.
The complete article is also posted in Vol. 150, No. 52 of the Canada Gazette.