Queries slow down TRIPS waiver for Covid drugs
Ahead of a key meeting of the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) later this month, progress has slowed on a crucial intellectual property rights waiver proposal by India and South Africa aimed at combating the Covid-19 pandemic, with the opponents of the proposal creating hurdles.The European Union pushing its own proposal, lack of enthusiasm to engage in bilateral talks on the waiver proposal and opponents asking country-level implementation questions have slowed the pace of the text-based talks on the proposal seeking patent waivers in the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement, on Covid-19-related medical products.Text-based discussions on the proposal took place last month and on July 6, and would continue on July 14 and 20 between which meetings among small groups are being held. The General Council of the WTO will check the progress of the negotiations on July 27-28. “There seems to be little enthusiasm among some members to engage bilaterally to discuss the text,” said an official, adding that these same members were usually open to such bilaterals for the ongoing fisheries negotiations.The waiver proposal has the support of more than 120 countries and an agreement can be reached only if there is a consensus among all 164 members. “This lack of enthusiasm confirms our fear that some of them have supported the text-based negotiations but not with the real intent to make them advance,” the official said.84277780As per another official, the small-group consultations are interactive and countries engage, but they make interventions with repetitive questions, thereby blocking the progress.The lackadaisical pace is also attributed to the EU pitching its own submission, which calls for limiting export restrictions, supporting the expansion of production, and facilitating the use of current compulsory licensing provisions in the TRIPS agreement, at par with the India-South Africa joint waiver proposal.As per the first official, the EU has said the waiver proposal did not create the conditions for technology transfer but actually worked against it.The UK, Switzerland, Japan, Norway and Mexico too have raised issues at the waiver proposal. The US has already expressed its doubts about starting a discussion on the scope of the waiver instead of focusing on common objectives and said some proposals could be very expensive as they unfold over the next 5-10 years.“We want a time-bound outcome but developed countries are announcing vaccine donations to poorer countries. Moreover, with many vaccine launches planned globally, they are delaying an outcome,” said an expert.As per another expert, supporters of the TRIPS waiver proposal could link its progress with that of the negotiations for a global fisheries pact, a ministerial meeting for which will happen on July 15.
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