WRITTEN QUESTION E-1062/01 by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission. Delays in large-scale protection against the parasite disease bilharzia because the pharmaceuticals industry does not regard a drug as profitable.
Date: 2001-04-05
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Africa, EU aid, development aid, disease prevention, health policy, tropical disease, vaccine

C 350 E/70

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

11.12.2001

(2001/C 350 E/075)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1059/01

by Nicholas Clegg (ELDR) to the Commission

(5 April 2001)

Subject: GATS applied to public services in public or private ownership

Do the GATS rules apply differently to public services depending on whether such services are in public or
private ownership? Can governments and public authorities restrict access to third-country service
providers in domestic public service markets which have already been privatised?

Answer given by Mr Lamy on behalf of the Commission

(5 June 2001)

Provisions under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) apply throughout, irrespective of
whether ownership of the service provider is private or public. However, all activities linked to the exercise
of governmental authority are excluded from the scope of the GATS.

These general provisions must be read in connection with the specific commitments that each World
Trade Organisation (WTO) Member has taken. This reflects the bottom-up approach of GATS, based on
voluntary, sector-by-sector commitments for the opening to foreign service suppliers. These commitments
indicate the level of market opening for each member in each services sectors and are included in country
annexes attached to the treaty.

It must be underlined that the commitments entered into by the Community and its Member States during
the Uruguay Round do not impair the prerogatives of Member States with regard to the establishment of
the most appropriate organisation of the sector concerned: Members are neither obliged to privatise any
part of the public sector, nor to limit the possibility of subsidising a service.

Whether governments and public authorities can, under GATS rules, restrict access to third country service
providers in domestic public service markets is not a question of whether these have been privatised or not
(which is a domestic policy decision), but depends on whether the Community and its Member States took
any commitments in this respect during the Uruguay Round and if so, what commitments (cid:133) This means
that any decision on privatisation in a specific sector,
if not linked to a specific Community GATS
commitment in the sector concerned, does not provide a legal framework for the provision of services by
foreign suppliers.

(2001/C 350 E/076)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1062/01

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(5 April 2001)

Subject: Delays in large-scale protection against the parasite disease bilharzia because the pharmaceuticals

industry does not regard a drug as profitable

Is the Commission aware that many thousands of deaths are caused every year in Africa not just by
1.
AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (cid:129) control of which is one of the Commission(cid:146)s concerns (cid:129) but also by the
tropical disease bilharzia which is caused by the minuscule schistosoma flatworm parasite, which lives in
fresh water and water snails, laying eggs in human blood vessels which affect the bladder, intestines and
liver, resulting in many people dying within 10 years?

Is the Commission also aware that there is no simple pill or vaccine available for bilharzia, which
2.
occurs on a large scale amongst
the inhabitants of some African countries, although a pill called
(cid:145)Praziquantel(cid:146) (Biltricide) is available for returning European tourists affected by bilharzia after bathing or
drinking?

11.12.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 350 E/71

Can the Commission confirm that

in 1991 researchers Tendler (parasitologist) and Simpson
3.
(molecular biologist) discovered a new drug, R-SM 14, which should be suitable in vaccine form for
large-scale use, and that research has also been carried out by the World Health Organisation but that so
far no pharmaceutical firm has been willing to produce a vaccine because the purchasing power in the
countries where there are epidemics of bilharzia is low and therefore no profit can be made?

4.
Does the Commission agree that, following previous successful campaigns against smallpox and polio
using vaccination, many human lives at risk or already damaged could be saved if public health took
precedence over commercial considerations?

5. What contribution does the Commission think it can make to encouraging a substantial European
input for a mass vaccination programme aimed at combating and ending the unnecessary epidemics of
bilharzia in the Third World?

Source: Swedish television documentary broadcast on TV 1 in the Netherlands (23 February 2001),
(cid:145)Netwerk(cid:146) current affairs programme.

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(14 June 2001)

The Commission agrees that bilharzia (schistosomiasis) is important in terms of socio-economic and public
health in tropical and subtropical areas. Despite the progress in control, the disease still remains endemic
in 76 developing countries where over 20 million people are currently estimated to be infected; 200 000
dying every year.

Given the difficulties in sustaining large-scale specific programmes in Africa, the core of the current
strategy against bilharzia disease consists of a simple and effective control package (by means of drug
treatment) which can be implemented through existing health and educational services and provision of
safe water. The Community, therefore, supports bilharzia control in the context of its existing assistance
for health sectors in developing countries.

After extensive research efforts, where funding from Community research programmes was crucially
important progress in
important to set-up appropriate North-South collaboration and with industry,
vaccine development has been reported. Extensive trials are hampered now by the profitability
requirements for private industry to undertake such large-scale investments. In this regard, the Commission
believes that private industry should be further encouraged to invest in vaccines and medicines in this area.

The recent Communication and Programme for Action on HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the
context of poverty reduction (1), highlights the importance for further investments and public private
partnerships for public health priorities in developing countries and those could also influence decisions
towards development of new drugs and vaccines for bilharzia. Finally, it is worth noting that Praziquantel,
is produced extensively locally, an area also targeted strongly supported by
the main available drug,
Community policy.

(1) COM(2001) 96 final.

(2001/C 350 E/077)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1106/01

by John Cushnahan (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(28 March 2001)

Subject: EU-Israel Association Agreement

In its May 1998 Communication to the Council and the European Parliament, the Commission stated:
(cid:145)Preferential access to Community markets for exports originating in Israeli settlements in the West Bank