International agreement to eliminate customs duties on approved pharmaceuticals

EU Member States adopted an international agreement to eliminate customs dutieson all new pharmaceuticals traded with the US and Switzerland. The agreement wasreached on 12 January 2007 and eliminates customs duties between the EU,Switzerland and US on finished pharmaceutical products and on the chemicalintermediates used in their production. It replaces a previous agreement from1994 that already enabled many pharmaceuticals to benefit from zero-tariffs, butdid not cover any of the more recent products. With this review, 1,290additional products have been added to the 7,329 products currently benefitingfrom duty-free treatment. The EU imports more than 80% of its pharmaceuticalsfrom the US and Switzerland, and the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC)believes that the agreement could save European pharmaceutical companies up to€230 million in 2007 alone.