A legal expert has dismissed the insistence of many governments, including Malaysia’s, that secrecy is necessary to facilitate the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

University of Auckland law professor Jane Kelsey said the US and the EU are holding talks to sign a parallel agreement but the EU has refused to sign a secrecy agreement and the talks will talk place publically.

"Claims therefore from governments that you can't negotiate these in public is simply not the case.

"That is how it is going to be done, as we understand, in the US-EU negotiations and the EU has announced it will put before its people the draft Investment Chapter (of the agreement) before it even tables it in the negotiations.

"So there is a serious question why on this (TPPA) negotiation, there is this unprecedented level of secrecy that applies," she told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

TPPA's secrecy agreements mean that the contents of what was agreed upon can only be disclosed well after it has been signed.

What is publicly known about the talks are largely based on unofficial sources, leaked documents, and official statements from governments hinting on its contents.

“I think all the analysts and activists are doing our best in terms ensuring that what is being put out to the public is from reliable sources, but the issue is, as we can see from the whole negotiations, the transparency is not there.

“We are discussing the fate of the citizens in all these 12 nations, but we are not given a chance to assess and to provide our views on this,” said Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM) CEO Mohd Nizam Mahshar, to a question on the veracity of the information regarding the secret talks.

Earlier, legal counsel for the US-based Public Citizen Access to Medicines Program Burcu Kilic told the same press conference that US negotiators have proposed relaxing some of the provisions regulating medical patents for developing countries, while stricter requirements are imposed on developed nations.

Although the November 2013 proposal may seem like a good deal, she said it is still excessive protection of intellectual property rights, and warned that Malaysia’s GDP growth rates also mean it can only enjoy the relaxed conditions for several years before becoming ineligible for it.

'More of a transitional period'

“It is more of a transitional period, like a ‘buy now, pay later’ deal. In a couple of years, Malaysia will become a high-income country, you will have to accept these higher standards, and certain implications on access to medicines,” she said.

There are three provisions that are watered down for developing and low-income nations under the proposal, she said, which were made after parts of the TPPA agreement affecting the accessibility of pharmaceutical products were met with stiff opposition.

These which include making it optional for countries whether or not to grant patent extensions if there are delays in the granting a patent or marketing approval.

The other concessions provide more flexibility on the conditions that pharmaceutical companies can use to restrict the sharing of its data, and excluding eligible countries from setting up a patent linkage system.

Drug accessibility is one of the major areas of concern in TPPA, because patent protections can prevent generic versions of drugs from reaching the market. Kilic says generic drugs can reduce medicine costs by 60 to 80 percent.