U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement: Potential Economy-wide ... - USITC

GPHA stated in testimony before the USTR that the patent-term extension, data exclusivity,
and linkage provisions can operate to delay the entry of generic products on the market in
Korea substantially beyond the time when the same products are available in the United
States. GPHA also asserted that while U.S. law requires that generic companies be permitted
to conduct research on a product during its patent life without infringing the patent, the FTA
contains no such requirement. 125
In testimony before the House Committee on Ways and Means, the Program on Information
Justice and Intellectual Property at American University’s Washington College of Law also
said that the patent-term extension, data exclusivity, and linkage provisions of the FTA
would inhibit the introduction of generics and access to medicine in Korea. 126
FTA Chapter 19—Labor 127
Assessment
The labor provisions contained in the proposed U.S.-Korea FTA text would likely have little
impact on the U.S. or Korean labor markets or on U.S.-Korea trade because they do little to
change existing labor regulations in the two countries and focus primarily on enforcement.
The principal labor provisions of the agreement require the parties to effectively enforce
their own existing labor laws (box 6.3) and would enable parties to challenge the failure to
enforce such laws under certain circumstances through consultations or the disputesettlement
procedures established in chapter 22 of the FTA. Industry and labor groups have
differing views regarding the adequacy and potential value of the proposed FTA labor
provisions (see Views of Interested Parties section below).
Summary of Provisions
As with the labor chapters of several previous FTAs, chapter 19 of the U.S.-Korea FTA
would commit each party to effectively enforce its respective labor laws while providing for
the reasonable exercise of discretion regarding such enforcement. In addition, the parties
would reaffirm their obligations as members of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Much like the labor chapter of the U.S.-Panama TPA, however, chapter 19 of the U.S.-Korea
FTA would also commit the parties to maintain the rights specified in the ILO Declaration
of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and Its Follow-up and ILO Convention No.
182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst
Forms of Child Labour (ILO Declaration) in their regulations and statutes. Further, whereas
125 Brown, “Proposed Free Trade Agreement with Republic of Korea,” testimony before the Trade Policy
Staff Committee, Office of the USTR, March 14, 2006.
126 Flynn, “Access to Medicines Issues in the US-Korea Free Trade Negotiations,” testimony before the
House Committee on Ways and Means, March 20, 2007, 5–7.
127 Under the Trade Act of 2002, the U.S. Department of Labor is responsible for the preparation of three
reports that address the labor issues associated with each new FTA: (1) Laws Governing Exploitive Child
Labor Report, (2) Labor Rights Report, and (3) United States Employment Impact Review. As of
October 2006, the Department of Labor had not published those reports related to the U.S.-Korea FTA.
USDOL, ILAB, “Labor-Related Reports for U.S. Free Trade Agreements.”
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