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Even the looming threat of the Omicron variant has not broken the deadlock in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on relaxing certain intellectual property (IP) rules for Covid-19 vaccines and medical products.
The TRIPS Council met this week to see if an agreement could be reached on the India-South Africa proposal for an IP waiver or any other appropriate pandemic response, but differences couldn’t be bridged. This is largely because powerful players have refused to yield on the vexed issue.
“The India-South Africa TRIPS waiver proposal has the support of more than 100 members. Yet, if major players such as the EU and the US don’t come on board fully, there is not much hope for it,” an official told BusinessLine.
The EU is one of the key opposers to the TRIPS waiver proposal, which was first put forward by India and South Africa on October 2, 2020. The bloc has argued that IPs are not a barrier to scaling up manufacturing of vaccines or other health products needed for the Covid-19 response and a waiver will not lead to widespread manufacturing.
The EU has instead floated its own proposal underlining that the existing WTO provision of allowing governments to issue compulsory licences to non-patent holders for manufacture of patented medical products during public health emergencies be further simplified.
“India and South Africa have pointed out that there is no time to see if one could make the existing provisions on compulsory licences work better. They have argued that to ensure more equitable distribution of vaccines and medical products and check the spread of the Covid-19 virus, it is vital that IP norms are temporarily waived,” the official added.
Omicron threat
The Omicron variant has been reported in 89 countries and the number of cases is doubling in 1.5 to 3 days in areas with community transmission, the World Health Organization has said.
If a common approach can be developed among member countries, “this could hopefully contribute to unlocking the situation in the Council and allow all members to take a step forward towards developing a consensus outcome,” the TRIPS Council Chair Ambassador Dagfinn Sørli of Norway.
Ambassador Sørli suggested as the best course of action for the immediate future to let these ongoing high-level engagements “continue and mature.”
WTO members were encouraged by the reports on virtual meetings held last week at the ministerial level between South Africa, India, the US and the EU to discuss a way forward and find common ground, as per a WTO release. The discussions were facilitated by WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
“Members welcomed this high-level dialogue and called for a transparent process involving the whole membership. Participants in the high-level engagement made clear that discussions are taking place with the goal of achieving a multilateral, consensus-based outcome,” a WTO release said.
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