Varun Sharma, founder and CEO of NEUVIOR, reflects on the necessitates of the recently forged India-UK pharma trade deal.
The India UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement became operational on 15 July. That is good news for businesses in both countries. It is also the moment to stop treating tariff reduction as a synonym for market access, especially in pharmaceuticals, medical technology and digital health.
Medicines and devices do not move from factory to patient through one gate. They move through at least five. A product must qualify for the tariff preference under the rules of origin. It must have the right approval in the destination market. Its manufacturing and quality evidence must withstand inspection. It must meet the terms of any public procurement. Its people, systems and data must be able to operate lawfully across borders.
The agreement changes some of these gates. It does not collapse them.
The Indian schedule places 198 of 226 pharmaceutical tariff lines in immediate staging, four already at zero, with the rest phased over five or ten years. Medical technology receives a more mixed pattern of phased elimination and partial reduction. These preferences matter, but only for products that satisfy the product specific origin rule.
#trade #market #technology #move
The India UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement became operational on 15 July. That is good news for businesses in both countries. It is also the moment to stop treating tariff reduction as a synonym for market access, especially in pharmaceuticals, medical technology and digital health.
Medicines and devices do not move from factory to patient through one gate. They move through at least five. A product must qualify for the tariff preference under the rules of origin. It must have the right approval in the destination market. Its manufacturing and quality evidence must withstand inspection. It must meet the terms of any public procurement. Its people, systems and data must be able to operate lawfully across borders.
The agreement changes some of these gates. It does not collapse them.
The Indian schedule places 198 of 226 pharmaceutical tariff lines in immediate staging, four already at zero, with the rest phased over five or ten years. Medical technology receives a more mixed pattern of phased elimination and partial reduction. These preferences matter, but only for products that satisfy the product specific origin rule.
#trade #market #technology #move
2 days ago
