* Pacific nations negotiating sweeping trade pact, progress
slow
* No announcement of a deal before Monday in Atlanta
* Australia's Robb says TPP partners reviewing biologic drug
terms
(Adds USTR comment on timing of announcement, changes headline,
lead, edits, adds quote from source)
By Krista Hughes
ATLANTA, Oct 4 (Reuters) - A dozen Pacific nations closed in
on a sweeping free-trade pact on Sunday in Atlanta but failed to
finalize terms on the fifth day of round-the-clock talks,
dashing hopes raised by an earlier breakthrough on protections
for new biotech drugs.
U.S. officials, who are hosting the meeting, delayed a
planned joint news conference until early Monday.
That pushed a resolution of the Trans Pacific Partnership
(TPP) talks beyond the deadline set by Japan's economy minister
Akira Amari. On Saturday, Amari had said the next 24 hours would
be a make-or-break period for the talks.
After five years of negotiations, many officials had
described this round as the best chance for an agreement, so
failure to strike a deal in Atlanta would plunge the future of
the talks into uncertainty.
Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said the delay on
Sunday came as other TPP partners reviewed the proposed terms of
a compromise on the monopoly period available for drug companies
that develop new drugs known as biologics.
New Zealand negotiators also pressed on Sunday for greater
access to overseas markets for its dairy exports, people
involved in the talks said. "The thing that's missing is (an
agreement) on dairy market access," one official said.
The sudden stall in the pace of talks came after organizers
had set up a platform in the conference center decorated with
flags of the TPP delegations for the announcement of a deal. By
Sunday night, a U.S. government website that had been scheduled
to livestream the ministerial news conference was carrying a
banner saying "delayed pending further notice".
On Sunday morning, Amari said he had called Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe to notify him that a deal was within sight.
The TPP would lower tariffs and set common standards for 12
countries that represent a combined 40 percent of the global
economy.
U.S. President Barack Obama has pushed for a deal as a way
to open markets to U.S. exports, including financial services
and pharmaceuticals. U.S. officials have also promoted the deal
as a counterweight to China.
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Graphic on TPP trade http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/tpp/
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PHARMA BREAKTHROUGH
The issue of protections for new biologic medicines like
Genentech's Avastin cancer therapy has pitted the United States
against Australia and five other countries.
The United States has pushed for longer monopoly protections
for pharmaceutical companies to encourage innovation. Australia
has countered that such measures would strain national
healthcare budgets and keep life-saving medicines from patients
who cannot afford them.
The United States provides 12 years of exclusivity for
biologic drugs. Australia has insisted on five years of
protection to control healthcare costs.
A two-track compromise hammered out by Australia and the
United States would set a minimum threshold of five years during
which drug makers would have exclusive rights to clinical data
behind new drugs while adding an additional protection of
several more years as applications for competing drugs are
reviewed, people involved said.
Under a second track, pharmaceutical companies would have
eight years of exclusive rights to a new product outright in
some countries, they said.
It was still unclear how that set of standards would
influence pricing for future drugs. It was also unclear if other
delegations, including Peru and Chile, would endorse the
proposal.
Separately, the United States and Japan had reached
agreement in principle on trade in autos and auto parts in talks
that also included Canada and Mexico. That agreement is expected
to give U.S. automakers, led by General Motors (NYSE:GM) GM.N and Ford
F.N , extended tariff protection against low-cost pickup truck
imports from Asia, people briefed on the talks have said.
But it would also give Japan's auto industry, led by Toyota
Motor 7203.T , a freer hand to source parts from Asia,
including from plants outside the TPP-zone like China, on
vehicles sold in North America.
A "rule of origin" would stipulate that only 45 percent of a
vehicle would have to be sourced from within the TPP, down from
the equivalent ratio of 62.5 percent under NAFTA, officials have
said.
The announcement of a deal on Monday would mark the start of
what could be a close-fought battle to ratify it in Congress.
Many Democrats and labor groups have raised questions about
what the TPP would mean for jobs in manufacturing and
environmental protections. Meanwhile Republicans, including Sen.
Orrin Hatch, the powerful chairman of the Senate finance
committee, have urged the administration to hold the line on
intellectual property protections, including for drugs.