International Trade committee  I think the rules vary tremendously by country, and the rules are different in different aspects. For example, the United States is typically seen as the aggressor on intellectual property, if you will, and as the country that's trying to promote higher levels of protection. If

International Trade committee  I'll start and then I'll let Jody say a few words since she participated in stakeholder sessions during negotiations. As I said in response to another question, we've had good opportunities to make our views known. I think the negotiators have been open to us in terms of Canada'

International Trade committee  No, at those meetings we have presented our positions. Our brief that we submitted to the government is on our website. So we are consistent in the positions we are putting forward.

International Trade committee  Under CETA there will be an increase in the length of the patent protection in Canada. That's been discussed. The reason why that could increase costs is that generics, which are much lower priced, will be delayed coming into the Canadian market. As indicated earlier this week i

International Trade committee  Again, our position is that Canada should not go beyond the recently signed agreement with the Europeans. So we have patent extensions but in that agreement, under the agreement in principle and under very clear statements from the Canadian government, the patent extension will b

International Trade committee  As I indicated in my remarks, we participated early on in the Canada Gazette process. We follow the briefings through the webinar process. We have had the opportunity to go in and present our views to the negotiators. As well, we are part of the International Generic Pharmaceutic

International Trade committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. On behalf of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association and our member companies, I would like to thank the chair and honourable members for this opportunity to participate in your study of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. I am join

International Trade committee  Thank you for your questions. I was asked about costs, so I answered. On the implementation, we're also very confident that it will be done correctly, and that's why we presented the comments we did.

International Trade committee  In terms of the exports, it is an extremely competitive world market for generics. What is absolutely critical is when you can get to market. Patent increases diminish the competitiveness of the domestic generic industry. The patent export exception that has been negotiated and

International Trade committee  Yes, generic prices have come down dramatically over the last five years. For example—

International Trade committee  I'm not sure what they were comparing, but the PMPRB study, the most recent one, would show that prices are approaching parity internationally. As I said, now in Canada generic prices are regulated at the provincial level. There's a pan-Canadian agreement; the provinces have ban

International Trade committee  You used to be able to, yes. One of the problems with that, quite frankly, is now you're coming in at a very low price. That's why this patent linkage system and the reform of it is so critical. What's happening now is that you're coming forward with a litigated product, you ha

International Trade committee  They do not have that in Europe. They will not have that going forward.

International Trade committee  In the European Union they have patent extensions and then after that the generic enters the market, but what they don't have is the amount of litigation we do. There's much less per capita in Europe than in Canada.

International Trade committee  We have some exports to Europe, and we would hope to continue and build on those.