The right to public health in the light of development of intellectual property enforcement rules

New trends at national and international levels indicate an ongoing development in the context of intellectual property enforcement. This development may affect public health of societies. Although border and customs measures play an important role in ensuring the movement of medicines and prevention of their counterfeiting and smuggle, their excessive expansion may make their movement and accessibility difficult. The paper aims at studying the negative implications of intellectual property enforcement development on reducing access to medicines. Pursuing TRIPS-plus trend by certain countries and conclusion of ACTA may have negative effects in the public health field. Making a balance in applying the enforcements as a new strategy, along with other intellectual property flexibilities may be a proper solution to improve access to medicines.