Israel's Supreme Court views parallel imports

This month, the Israeli Supreme Court began its debate on the legalissues surrounding parallel imports of drugs. This concerns the case brought last summer by Pharma-Israel, the Israeli association of research-based companies, against the new parallel import regulations introduced by the Ministry of Health (Marketletter August 7, 2000).

At its first hearing, the focus of the debate has been the implications the regulations have on current Israeli patent laws. The Marketletter's local correspondent says the Court is not expected to concern itself with the technical issues of whether the MoH is able to handle the extra bureaucracy and its ability to guarantee that uncertified and low-quality products will not reach the market; there is reportedly divided opinion amongst senior MoH staff on the Ministry's ability in this regard.

The new regulations took effect September 1, 2000, ending the importers' exclusivity under which only one firm could import a drug from a single country of origin and allowing imports of identical drugs from various sources. The rules were signed into law speedily by the Ministers of Health and Justice (Marketletter July 17, 2000), after the High Court required them to explain their reasons for not doing so; they had been included as amendments to the Pharmacists' Law approved by the Knesset (parliament) in February 1999.