WTO members are yet to narrow their differences over a proposed extension of TRIPS waiver to therapeutics and diagnostics, as suggested in the initial submission made by India and South Africa, with just six weeks to go for the December 17 deadline fixed by Trade Ministers at the WTO Ministerial Conference (MC 12) in June this year for reaching a decision on the matter.
“At an informal meeting of the TRIPS Council on Wednesday, the chair observed that members largely held on to their initial positions with no submissions of written proposals and said that he would now start bilateral discussions to look for a common ground,” a Geneva-based trade official told businessline.
At the MC12 in Geneva, trade ministers adopted the decision on the TRIPS Agreement, giving countries the right to override patent protection on Covid-19 vaccines. This would provide greater scope for member countries to take direct action to diversify the production of Covid-19 vaccines through clarifications of existing flexibilities and a targeted waiver over the next five years.
There was also a commitment that, no later than six months from the date of its adoption (17 June), members will decide on its possible extension to cover the production and supply of COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics.
“At the meeting on November 2, members mostly repeated their positions already stated in the earlier ones. There was no move towards a common ground. The TRIPS council chair urged all members to come up with text-based proposals so that a common language could emerge,” the official said.
At one end of the spectrum is a group of members, including India, South Africa, the Maldives, Kenya on behalf of the ACP Group; Malaysia and Bangladesh on behalf of the LDC Group; Colombia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, and Nigeria, who favour a blanket approach to the extension of therapeutics and diagnostics.
On the other end is the second group of members, including Switzerland, Singapore, Japan, Canada, Korea, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, which insists on seeing first evidence that IP constitutes a barrier to access to therapeutics and diagnostics before considering the extension.
The third group includes members, such as the US, China, Uruguay, Peru, and Mexico, who want more time for domestic discussions on a definition of what constitutes therapeutics and diagnostics and on a possible list of such products to be covered by the extension.
The next informal meeting of the TRIPS council is scheduled for November 16, followed by one on December 6. The council is also open to the possibility of calling members to another meeting on December 15, only two days before the deadline.
On October 2, 2020, India and South Africa came up with a landmark proposal at the TRIPS Council, proposing that the WTO temporarily waive the application of certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement to facilitate wider access to technologies necessary for the production of vaccines and medicines. They hoped that this would scale up local production, serve a critical role in ensuring wider access to affordable and effective vaccines, and also check the growing vaccine inequity where a small percentage of developed country population were grabbing a giant share of the vaccines.