Cover Story
policy to manage the practice, the law provides that a trademark owner’ s rights are exhausted after goods bearing the mark are first put on sale with his consent anywhere within the European Economic Area( EEA). The practice of parallel importation is permissible in the EEA, subject to compliance with certain principles and procedures. This is the same principle which proponents of parallel importation of pharmaceuticals base their argument in support of parallel importation in other jurisdictions such as the case of Kenya. If a manufacturer sells its patented product to its distributor in Turkey, for instance, and the distributor sales it to a customer who exports it to another country like Kenya, then the brand owner( manufacturer) cannot make any legitimate claim to the ownership of the product as its rights are exhausted after they put the product on first sale in Turkey.
Commercial Background of Parallel importation
Dr. Toroitich said that the practice of parallel importation is driven by price differences among different markets. In the case of EU countries, prices for pharmaceutical products are generally set bythe governments of each member state dependent on national policy considerations and the operation of social security systems.
He said that parallel importers operate outside the distribution network set up by the manufacturer or their authorised distributor by taking advantage of price divergences between different markets. This, in turn, profits them from purchasing goods in low-priced markets and reselling them at a discount in higher price markets.
U. S. Ambassador to Kenya Robert F. Godec takes a tour of the KEMSA warehouse
Justification of PI
A case for parallel importation is made when the price of a given medication is prohibitively high or the product is not available thereby denying access to those in need, said the officer.
In this case, countries make decisions to allow for importation of the medication from markets where it is available and much cheaper, and the price benefits to the patient population of interest can be demonstrated.
“ In such circumstances, a firm which is not the appointed distributor of the said manufacturer acts as a parallel channel to import the product into the country. In this way there is improved access by the patient population of interest of the drug product being imported,” said Dr. Toroitich.
22 November-December 2016