Calling out countries that may be resorting to delaying tactics to block a decision on the proposed extension of the temporary waiver for TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) for Covid-19 therapeutics and diagnostic tools at the WTO, India has demanded that members should “explicitly” state whether they were in support of the proposal, or not, before the December 17 deadline, a Geneva-based trade official has said.

“At the TRIPS Council meeting on Tuesday, some members, such as the US and the EU, suggested that the December 17 deadline should be extended as they needed greater proof of benefit that would flow from the proposed IP waiver for therapeutics and diagnostics. India said that the task at hand was simple and countries only needed to explicitly say whether they supported an extension or not,” the official told businessline.

India’s demand may not go down well with rich nations, such as the US, the UK and the EU, as they are unlikely to outright reject a proposal aimed at making access to Covid-19 tools more accessible to poorer countries, an industry official tracking the matter said.

“New Delhi has basically asked countries to show their cards instead of letting matters remain pending so that in effect the waiver is not granted without members actually stating that they opposed it,” he explained.

Targeted waiver

At the WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva in June 2022, it was decided that over the next five years, members will be allowed a targeted waiver of TRIPS provisions on Covid-19 vaccines that will give them a right to override patents and have greater scope to take direct action to diversify production.

Members also agreed that a decision on the possible extension of the waiver to cover the production and supply of Covid-19 diagnostics and therapeutics will be taken within the next six months, by December 17.

In a joint paper submitted to the TRIPS council following the MC12, India, South Africa, Egypt and Indonesia pointed out that during 2020-21, there were 5,293 patent applications filed related to Covid-19 technologies and the filings for therapeutics outnumbered those on vaccines at an approximate 4:1 ratio. This established that there was a need for waiver for therapeutics as well, the paper said.

However, despite several rounds of TRIPS council meeting on the proposed waiver, a number of countries did not agree to come on board

Extension sought

On Tuesday, South Africa, on behalf of India and a number of developing nations and LDCs, submitted a draft text to the TRIPS Council on the waiver. It proposed that the TRIPS waiver for vaccines should be extended as it is to therapeutics and diagnostics for five years.

“Both the EU and the US sought an extension of the December 17 deadline. The EU said that it will look at the South Africa proposal over the coming days while the US said that it needed more time to understand the market dynamics and would launch an investigation.

Sri Lanka said that while it was willing to show some flexibility on the December 17 deadline, it should not be stretched indefinitely without arriving at a meaningful decision.

One additional informal meeting of the TRIPS Council has been scheduled on December 15, two days before the deadline.