Compulsory License No. CL 01/2004

• Text of the Compulsory License No. CL 01/2004
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• Letters sent to Boehringer-Ingelheim and Bristol-Myers Squibb notifying the companies of the issuance of the compulsory license.

• September 23, 2004. CPTech Statement on the Issuance of the Compulsory License.

• News Stories
  • September 23, 2004. The Times of Zambia. Pharco Granted License to Make ARVs.
  • September 23, 2004. Nancy Mwape for the Zambia Daily Mail. Local firm gets ARVs licence.

On September 3, 2004, the Zambia's permanent secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry announced that the government has declared the AIDS epidemic a national emergency. The country plans on issuing TRIPS-compliant compulsory licenses for antiretrovirals to local producers. Most of the news stories covering this announcement include the following two common misunderstandings about compulsory licenses: 1) compulsory licenses can only be issued in a state of emergency, and 2) goods produced under exports can not be exported. The TRIPS Agreement does not limit compulsory licenses to national emergencies, and on August 30, 2003, the WTO agreed that drugs could be exported to resource-poor countries (although this is governed by a complex set of rules).

(The actual WTO rules on compulsory licenses are found in Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement. The rules on exporting drugs produced under compulsory license can be found in the Implementation of paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and public health.)

• September 9, 2004. Kaiser News Network. Zambian Government Declares HIV AIDS National Emergency, Launches Collaborative Treatment Project.
• September 8, 2004. Editorial in the Lusaka Post. A Welcome Emergency Declaration.
• September 4, 2004. Webster Malido for the Lusaka Post. Government Declares HIV/Aids an Emergency.
• September 3, 2004. Reuters. Zambia Declares AIDS Emergency to Produce Drugs.