HEALTH Minister Dr Nkosazana Zuma has been blamed by two opposition political parties on Sunday after the United States placed South Africa on a trade “watch list” — which identifies countries it claims denies adequate protection to intellectual property rights — for the second year in a row. National Party health spokesman Dr Kobus Gouws said Zuma had reneged on South Africa’s World Trade Organisation obligations by not providing adequate intellectual property protection for pharmaceuticals, and sanctions against South Africa had resulted. The Medicines Control Act allows for the parallel importation of pharmaceuticals, meaning third parties can import drugs which are still under patent in South Africa. Gouws said the sanctions that resulted from this legislation had set back the country’s entire economy because US tariff concessions had been denied to other South African industries. The Democratic Party also called for the legislation to be amended, saying this could salvage South Africa’s trade relations with America.
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