Bridges Weekly Trade News Digest • Volume 5 • Number 13 • 10th April 2001

TRIPs Council to Hold Discussion on Essential Medicines

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Following a request by Zimbabwe on behalf of the African Group at the WTO, the WTO Council on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) in its meeting on 2-6 April agreed to hold special discussions on essential medicines during the next Council meeting in June. The decision came in the wake of recent accusations that the WTO impedes developing countries’ access to cheap drugs by protecting pharmaceutical patents (see BRIDGES, 20 February 2001).

Africa’s request for special discussions on drugs

In its statement to the TRIPs Council, the African Group called for a Special Session of the Council to address issues relating to TRIPs, patents and access to medicines. In particular, the paper said, the Session should aim to “provide legal clarity in the interpretation and application of the relevant TRIPs provisions which allow the adoption of certain measures to enable the protection of health.” The outcomes of the Session could feed into the preparatory process of the fourth Ministerial Conference in Qatar. The statement also stressed that the African Members were not aiming to undermine or discourage investment into research and development for new drugs. “Our challenge is to address the question of affordable access to drugs in a manner that is fair and equitable to all stakeholders,” it said. The African Group also acknowledged that the question of affordable drugs goes beyond patenting and pricing and includes other issues, such as government purchasing power and infrastructure, which lie outside the mandate of the Council.

The TRIPs Council agreed to devote a full day to a special discussion of intellectual property issues relevant to access to medicines during the course of the next TRIPs Council meeting on 18-20 June. Furthermore, the WTO is co-sponsoring a workshop on “Differential Pricing and Financing of Essential Drugs” with the World Health Organization, which is currently being held in Norway from 8 to 11 April. The workshop brings together representatives from research-based and generic manufacturers, governments, intergovernmental organisations, non-governmental organisations, academics and consultants to provide an opportunity to exchange views on these issues. BRIDGES Weekly will report on the outcomes of this meeting in a forthcoming issue. In addition, the WTO has released a fact sheet on TRIPS and pharmaceuticals, which outlines the exceptions to patent rights under TRIPs of relevance to the drugs issue.

CBD-TRIPs relationship

Also at the Council meeting, the US (IP/C/W/257) and European Communities (IP/C/W/254) submitted papers on the relationship between the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the TRIPs Agreement in the context of the review of provisions of Article 27.3(b) (possible exceptions to patentability). The EC paper acknowledges developing countries’ concerns expressed within the context of the review of Article 27.3(b), but concludes that the solutions do not necessarily lie within the scope of the Article itself, but rather in developing appropriate international instruments to achieve the objectives of the CBD and the TRIPs Agreement; providing technical assistance to developing countries; and possible negotiations of measures within the IPR system. Detailed discussions of the paper were postponed to the next Council meeting. In addition, Peru presented a paper (IP/C/W/246; available online) on its national experience concerning the protection of traditional knowledge and access to genetic resources, which had previously been submitted to the WTO Committee on Trade and Environment (see BRIDGES Weekly, 20 February 2001).

“WTO countries defend patents pact in drug row,” REUTERS, 5 April 2001; “African WTO Members Get Accord On Special Meeting on TRIPs Issue,” WTO REPORTER, 9 April 2001; ICTSD Internal Files.