logjam at wto over ip waiver india, s africa to review

AMITI SENNew Delhi, May 3

With the pandemic continuingto aff��ect human lives, SouthAfrica, India and other co-spon-sors, who had demanded atemporary waiver of the intel-lectual property (IP) provisionson medical products at theWTO, have said that they areready to review their proposalin order to fi��nd a “commonground” with nations oppos-ing it.

At the TRIPS (Trade RelatedIntellectual Property Rights)Council meeting on April 30,the WTO members agreed tocontinue consideration of theIP waiver and asked the Chairto report to the General Coun-cil on this decision at its nextmeeting on May 5-6, a Geneva-

based trade offi��cial told Busi-nessLine. “The co-sponsors didnot share the details of thekind of revision, its scope ornature, but they said that theywill immediately start enga-ging with other members, in-cluding those opposing thewaiver to advance discussions.They want to fi��nd a solution assoon as possible as it is vitalthat all impediments to thesmooth fl��ow of medicines andcritical equipment are re-moved,” the offi��cial said. The of-

fi��cial added that the EuropeanUnion, the UK and Switzerlandshowed “readiness to engagein further discussions” but reit-erated that undermining the IPrights is a no-go as they repres-ent a major contribution to ex-panding production of theCovid-19 vaccines.

BackgroundIn October last year, SouthAfrica and India fi��rst submit-ted the proposal with the ob-jective to allow “timely accessto critical medicines, vaccinesand other medical equipment”and scaling-up of “research, de-velopment, manufacturing,and supply of essential med-ical products”.

While there are sixty co-sponsors of the proposal, in-cluding several African nationsand LDCs, and about 100 na-tions support it at the WTO,there are some, such as the USand the EU, that oppose it.

To consult withopposing nations tofi��nd ‘middle ground’

An official said that the EU, theUK have showed readiness toengage in further discussions

India, S Africa to review proposalLOGJAM AT WTO OVER IP WAIVER