Prospects of text-based negotiations on an intellectual property response to COVID-19

At a General Council meeting on May 10, WTO members agreed that the outcome document emerging from the informal process conducted with the Quad (European Union, India, South Africa and the United States) opens the prospect for text-based negotiations on an intellectual property (IP) response to COVID-19. Efforts should be made to bring a waiver on the cost of COVID-19 vaccinations, as the least developed countries cannot afford the costly vaccinations. The QUAD is the right forum to take this initiative along with other members. DG Okonjo-Iweala thanked delegations for the “constructive spirit” shown during the General Council meeting. Following an impasse of more than a year in the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the text was forwarded by DG Okonjo-Iweala and shared immediately by TRIPS Council Chair Ambassador Lansana Gberie (Sierra Leone) with all delegations, who had the opportunity to express their initial views about the proposal at a formal meeting on the TRIPS Council on May 6. In their discussions facilitated by DG Okonjo-Iweala and working with Deputy Director-General Anabel González, the Quad adopted a problem-solving approach aimed at identifying practical ways to clarify, streamline and simplify how Governments can override patent rights, under certain conditions, to enable diversification of production of COVID-19 vaccines. China announced at the meeting that it will not avail itself of the flexibilities under the Quad waiver text provided that language is used opening benefits of the waiver to all developing members while encouraging those with capacity to export vaccines to opt out. China and several other members rejected a second option in the text that would restrict waiver eligibility to those developing countries that exported more than 10 per cent of the world’s vaccine doses in 2021. Ambassador Gberie urged members to be pragmatic in working for an outcome on the waiver text by the time ministers gather in Geneva for the WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) between June 12-15. The issue of food security and the impact of the Ukraine crisis was also addressed at the General Council meeting. The United Kingdom presented a joint statement endorsed by more than 50 WTO members underlining the importance of maintaining open and predictable agricultural markets and trade to ensure the continued flow of food. Members then took the floor to voice their views on how best to address the sharp rise in commodity prices and ensure food security, particularly among countries most dependent on food imports.

The majority of the members appreciated India providing food security to the least developed countries on humanitarian grounds. India and the US have resolved their disagreements on food security issues, paving the way for the implementation of a global trade pact. The deal to simplify trade procedures was done at a WTO meeting summit in Bali in Indonesia last year. However, India has been blocking implementation of that agreement. It wanted assurances that its food security programme would not be challenged under the WTO’s rules. India’s concern was that complaints based on rules limiting farm subsidies might undermine its spending on food stockpiles intended to ensure that the poor have enough to eat. Food security programmes are covered by a so-called “peace clause” in which countries agreed to refrain from making such challenges until 2017. The US has now agreed to extend that commitment, in effect indefinitely. This bilateral agreement between the US and India still has to be endorsed by the full WTO membership, and it’s likely to be discussed in WTO’s 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva.

(The writer is former Senior Professor, International Trade and Member, Vivekananda International Foundation. The views expressed are personal.)