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Whereas, in the course of the Uruguay Round negotiations the Community and a number of countries discussed duty-free treatment of pharmaceutical products; Whereas the participants in those discussions concluded that in addition to products falling within the Harmonized System (HS) Chapter 30 and HS headings 2936, 2937, 2939 and 2941, duty-free treatment should be given to designated pharmaceutical active ingredients bearing an ‘international non-proprietary name’ (INN) from the World Health Organization as well as specified salts, esters and hydrates of such INNs, and also to designated products used for the production and manufacture of finished products; Whereas the results of the discussions, as set out in the record of discussions, were incorporated into the tariff schedules of the participants annexed to the Marrakesh Protocol to GATT 1994;

Whereas they also concluded that representatives of the WTO members party to the record of discussions would meet under the auspices of the Council for Trade in Goods of the WTO, normally at least once every three years — to review the product coverage with a view to including, by consensus, additional pharmaceutical products for tariff elimination; Whereas the first such review has taken place with the conclusion that a certain number of additional INNs and products used for production and manufacture of finished Pharmaceuticals should be granted duty-free treatment and that the list of specified prefixes and suffixes for salts and esters of INNs should be expanded; Whereas in the context of the review it was concluded that it was appropriate to rectify the situation with regard to certain INNs whose use was predominantly non-pharmaceutical and which had been inadvertently included among those INNs already receiving duty-free treatment, HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: