SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia said US unease over amendments in their free trade agreement designed to limit the power of American pharmaceutical companies are baseless and should not delay its implementation.
Trade Minister Mark Vaile said he was confident the free trade agreement would come into force on January 1, as planned, despite doubts aired by US ambassador Tom Schieffer over the Australian amendments.
Vaile rejected Schieffer's assertation that the changes, insisted upon by Australia's Labor opposition to protect access to cheap prescription medicines, represented an artificial trade barrier.
"We don't see it as a problem," Vaile told ABC radio. "This has not been an easy process from the start and right to the finish there will be issues to be dealt with; we're going to remain focused on the outcome and that's implementation by January 1."
Australia and the United States need to exchange letters certifying the deal by the end of October if they want it to come into force on January 1, the deadline set by US President George W. Bush and Prime Minister John Howard when negotiations opened two years ago.
However, Schieffer said he was not sure the January 1 implementation date could be accomplished because the amendments may set a precedent that would defeat the purpose of the free trade agreement.
"Our concern in that regard is if you can do that for pharmaceuticals, then you could do it for software packages, or auto parts, or any number of other things, and in that way actually set up an artificial trade barrier, which is what the free trade agreement is trying to get away from," Schieffer told a function late Tuesday.
Vaile said Australian trade officials were holding talks with their counterparts in Washington to ease concerns about the amendments.
He said the changes merely reflected the different legislative processes between Australia and the United States.
"We're currently explaining how that system works to our colleagues in the United States," Vaile said.
He said the US government remained committed to meeting the original deadline for implementation.
"These issues, the Bush administration I understand are very keen to have resolved and finalised before the presidential election (in November) and obviously the end of October achieves that goal," he said.
The amendments mean pharmaceutical companies can be fined more than 10 million dollars (7.3 million US) if they attempt to extend their patents by making small changes to their products so cheap generic copies cannot be released on the market.
Vaile said he was keen for the free trade agreement to proceed because it would boost the Australian economy by billions of dollars a year and create up to 30,000 jobs.
Two-way trade in goods and services between the United States and Australia amounts to about 28 billion US dollars a year, with the United States enjoying a surplus of nine billion dollars.