World Trade Organisation (WTO) members drew up a timeframe Friday for efforts at ensuring that intellectual property rights do not prevent poor countries from getting badly-needed drugs.
Delegates agreed the WTO's accord on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) must be "part of the solution and not part of the problem," Zimbabwean Ambassador Boniface Chidyausiku said.
Chidyausiku chaired the meeting devoted to dealing with public health crises.
WTO members agreed on Wednesday on the need for steps to ensure all members interpret provisions contained in the accord offering flexibility over access to needed medicines in the same way, he said.
Developing countries must feel safe they can use the provisions without fear of facing a trade dispute, he told a news briefing.
Chidyausiku said the discussions demanded by 33 African states were the start of a process, which some WTO members wanted to lead to a declaration at the Doha ministerial conference in November.
WTO members recognised the importance of patents in providing an incentive for development of new drugs but were also committed to ensuring the TRIPS accord does not hinder access to medications, he said.
"Many delegations said that the TRIPS agreement could provide sufficient flexibility to enable public health needs to be met, if it is properly interpreted and applied," he told reporters.
The accord contains provisions which permit governments to issue "compulsory licences" allowing a competitor to produce or import a patented product under specific circumstances in a health emergency.
But delegates acknowledged concerns from poorer countries that the exceptions can be interpreted too narrowly, while some countries "come under undue pressure not to make full use of the flexibility", Chidyausiku added.
Washington has come under fire from health activists over its complaint before the WTO against Brazil over Brazilian patent laws with regard to its fight against HIV/AIDS.
Other issues to be considered as part of the process launched Friday include suggestions that WTO members should refrain from dispute settlement on the issue of intellectual property and public health, he said.
Some developing countries said, however, that they would make proposals to modify the accord if flexibility in the agreement was found to be insufficient, he added.
"There have been suggestions that if the clarification will not suffice there are some countries that would want to make improvements to the TRIPS agreement to take into consideration their concerns," Chidyausiku said.
The WTO secretariat will draw up a checklist of relevant issues to be discussed on July 25 followed by further talks at the WTO's TRIPS Council on September 19.
The process aims to "seek common understandings of the flexibility in the TRIPS agreement" and to ensure members have "the necessary sense of security and legal certainty" to fully use the accord's provisions, the ambassador added. |
