Free Trade Areas

Members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malaysia included, have yet to formulate common rules for dmg regulation. Nonetheless, efforts have been made towards harmonization in terms of voluntary standards. Through the ASEAN Technical Cooperation Project in Pharmaceuticals, a number of reference substances and guidelines have been developed (17). Furthermore, agreements made for the ASEAN Free Trade Area have harmonized and reduced import tariffs on a number of goods, including pharmaceutical raw materials and finished products. 

Since ICH was initiated in 1990, there have been observers associated with the process to act as a link with non-ICH countries and regions. The observers to the ICH are the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Free Trade Area (EFTA), and the Therapeutic Products Directorate of Canada. 

The main players at ICH are now the European Commission/EMEA, EEPIA, Japanese Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare (MHLW), Japanese Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA), US FDA and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). The WHO, Canadian Health Protection Branch and the European Free Trade Area (BETA) countries enjoy an observer status at ICH meetings. 

North American Free Trade Area Net Present Value... 

Given that there are 27 independent states involved in the EU with three states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway from the European Economic Commu-nity-European Free Trade Area (EEC-EFTA), it is important that the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) and the European parliament enact regulations that will meet the needs of the peoples of the member nations relative to new medicinal advances. The founding legislation of the European Medicine Agency is found in Regulation (European Commission) No. 726/2004. The headquarters of the EMEA is located in London. 

Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The agreement eliminates tariffs on most goods originating in and traveling between the three member countries. It was approved by the legislatures of the three countries and had entered into force by January 1994. When it was created, NAFTA formed one of the largest free-trade areas of its kind in the world. 

European Free Trade Area European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal JPMA... 

Six founding members of ICH are directly involved in the decision-making process. They represent the regulatory bodies and the industry in the European Union, Japan, and the United States. They are the European Commission and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) in Europe the Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare and the Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA) in Japan the FDA and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and a group of observers including WHO, The European Free Trade Area (EFTA represented at ICH by Swissmedic Switzerland), and Canada represented by Health Canada. 

NAFTA North America Free Trade Area... 

Countries in the European free trade area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) and EU candidate countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Turkey) must incorporate the European cosmetic directives— including those concerning analytical methods—into their national regulations, even if some may have retained certain differences when compared to the EU model, by regulating various substances which are not regulated in the EU, or by regulating them in a different way. 

Constituent sovereign nations trade freely with each other, so all have favomed-nation-status (see text on WTO) but they exercise individual trade barriers with nations outside the free trade area. Example North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)... 

Association of Southeast Asian Nations Free Trade Area (AFTA)... 

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