PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jul 28, 2005
Protecting Free Trade in Pharmaceuticals Act of 2005 - Amends the Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2002 to include among the overall trade negotiating objectives of the United States avoiding negotiating trade agreements that could restrict, or be interpreted to restrict, the access of consumers in the United States to pharmaceutical imports from countries with a pharmaceutical infrastructure that is equivalent, or superior, to that of the United States: (1) by or through the use and development of the doctrine of international patent exhaustion, as interpreted or applied by U.S. courts on the enactment of this Act; or (2) by making it a violation for the United States to enact legislation permitting pharmaceutical imports without the consent of patent owners when the products involved have been sold outside the United States.
Prohibits the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) from: (1) entering into a bilateral or multilateral trade agreement that, with respect to the importation of pharmaceutical products without the consent of the patent owners, includes provisions identical or similar to the provisions of the United States-Singapore Free Trade Agreement, the United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement, or the United States-Morocco Free Trade Agreement; or (2) negotiating an agreement or understanding with respect to any of such provisions.
Requires the USTR, with respect to the advisory committee on matters relating to intellectual property, to ensure that, for each meeting that relates or potentially relates to the importation of pharmaceutical products into the United States, at least 10% of the committee members represent the interests of consumers of such products.
People & committees
Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA] · R–LA
Legislative record
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Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced in Senate
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Source last updated: Dec 5, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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