(Adds more on "best reasonable efforts")
By Philip Blenkinsop
BRUSSELS, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The European Commission's
contract with AstraZeneca to supply COVID-19 vaccines
includes Britain along with the EU as places where the
Anglo-Swedish drugmaker should make its best efforts to
manufacture vaccines for the EU.
The contract is at the heart of a dispute over access to
vaccines, after AstraZeneca announced last week it would fall
short of delivering promised vaccines to the EU by March because
of production problems in Belgium.
The EU, whose member states are far behind Israel, Britain
and the United States in rolling out vaccines, is standing its
ground, pressing the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker to deliver the
doses as promised in the contract.
AstraZeneca has been making large quantities of its vaccine
in Britain, but has said a contract it signed with the British
government requires it to fulfil Britain's order before it can
send doses manufactured there abroad, including to the EU.
The company agreed on Friday to publication of its advance
purchase agreement with the European Commission. The 41-page
contract was published https://bit.ly/2MBIaoU, although certain
parts were redacted.
The contract says that AstraZeneca must uses its "Best
Reasonable Efforts" to manufacture the EU doses, but the parties
disagree on what this means.
AstraZeneca's contention is that this is more of a
subjective assessment, but a commission official said on Friday
it was an objective legal standard.
The official pointed to a sentence in the contract by which
AstraZeneca says it is not under any obligation to others that
would impede complete fulfilment of the agreement's
requirements.
The commission also contends it does have the right to doses
made in Britain and refers to a section at the end of the
contract listing two British production sites.
"AstraZeneca shall use its Best Reasonable Efforts to
manufacture the vaccine at manufacturing sites located within
the EU (which for the purpose of this Section 5.4 only shall
include the United Kingdom)," the contract says in a section on
manufacturing sites.
At the time the contract was signed, Britain had left the EU
but was still subject to most EU rules in a transition period
which ended at the start of this year.
The contract goes on to say that AstraZeneca may manufacture
at facilities elsewhere to accelerate supply of the vaccine in
Europe, provided that it gives prior notification.
The contract does not say whether AstraZeneca is obliged to
send vaccines produced in Britain to the European Union.
Asked whether Britain would publish its own contract with
the company, a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said
it was policy not to discuss contractual matters.
The commission official did recognise that a legal challenge
would not necessarily result in more vaccines being made
available, a view broadly shared by EU governments despite
Italy's request for legal action.
"The centre of gravity of opinion is more like: 'let's try
and thrash out something with these guys'," one senior EU
diplomat said.
The commission said it welcomed the company's commitment
towards more transparency.
AstraZeneca and the EU had signed a deal for up to 400
million doses of the vaccine. Last week, the firm unexpectedly
announced cuts of up to 60% in supplies to the bloc, citing
production problems at a Belgian factory, triggering a furious
response from the bloc.
The EU is now looking into a scheme to monitor and authorise
export of vaccines, potentially blocking them if its own supply
is not met.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, John Chalmers and Francesco
Guarascio in Brussels and Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru
Editing by John Chalmers and Nick Macfie)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
