African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union face a 'hidden' threat to their ability to access affordable medicines for diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Judging from recent EU attempts in the context of other bilateral trade discussions, and from the language in the intellectual property provisions in the Cotonou Agreement, the ACP countries could end up saddled with the EU's laws on 'data exclusivity'. 'Data exclusivity' refers to a peculiar type of 'intellectual property protection' by which EU member countries, like their US cousin, grant exclusive marketing rights to pharmaceutical companies even in relation to medicines that are not under patent protection, and sometimes even when there has been no new invention. The effect is to further disable generic competitors.