After India, more than 150 NGOs call for TRIPS waiver for all Covid-19 medical products

Mumbai, June 16, 2022:

Close on the heels of India’s call for inclusion of therapeutics and diagnostics as part of the TRIPS waiver for Covid-19 medical tools, more than 150 civil society organizations (CSOs) from various countries including India have called on all trade ministers at World Trade Organization (WTO) to negotiate an effective and meaningful TRIPS waiver that covers all major intellectual property rights on all Covid-19 medical products for all people.

The civil society groups include Section27, Salud y Fármacos USA, Pacific Network on Globalization, Pamoja TB group, access to medicines Ireland, ActionAid Australia, Access to Medicines Research Group, Action against AIDS Germany, AHF Mexico, Association of Women of Southern Europe AFEM, CAPI, Brazilian Interdisciplinary Aids Association (ABIA), Cancer Alliance, Child Way Uganda, Children Rights Information Network-Kenya, Coalition of Women Living with HIV in Malawi, Doctors for Vaccine Equity, Global Citizen, Global Health Advocates, Global Citizen, Global Health Advocates, MSF Access Campaign, Nelson Mandela Foundation, Oxfam, People's Vaccine Alliance, Universal Relief Foundation, People's health movement, Youth Foundation of Bangladesh etc.
 
In an open letter to trade ministers attending 12th WTO ministerial conference on June 15, 2022, the NGOs urged them not to accept the current draft of ministerial decision on the TRIPS agreement and demand a real waiver.
 
“This is not what is currently proposed in the draft ministerial decision on the TRIPS Agreement (WT/MIN(22)/W/15). We therefore call on you to not accept the current proposed Covid-19 decision on the TRIPS agreement as it does not deliver a meaningful global response to the pandemic and fails to uphold many of the key founding principles of the WTO, including non-discriminatory treatment by and among members, and transparency,” they added.
 
People continue to die from Covid-19 without access to life-saving treatments. It is therefore indefensible that the draft Ministerial Decision does not immediately apply to all Covid-19 medical tools, including therapeutics and diagnostics. The failure of the text to address intellectual property barriers beyond patents severely limits its effectiveness in increasing production and supply, the civil society groups stated.
 
The draft Ministerial Decision is discriminatory as it arbitrarily excludes some of the world’s largest producers of medical tools and “encourages developing countries with export capacity to opt out” from using the proposed decision to produce and supply medical tools. This is contradictory and counterproductive to saving people’s lives by ensuring the access to medical tools they need, they pointed out.
 
It is unacceptable that the text restricts the free movement and rapid distribution of needed medical products during a global pandemic by imposing a ban on re-exportation of Covid-19 vaccines produced under the decision. This restriction cannot be justified, said MSF, one of the civil society groups.
 
Under the guise of ‘clarifying’ existing flexibilities under the TRIPS Agreement, the proposed text risks adding restrictions and complex bureaucratic conditions resulting in hurdles to the production and supply of Covid-19 medical tools. These, together with never-before-required time limits and product limits applied to clarifying the existing public health flexibilities, would set a negative precedent for responses to future health challenges, stated Oxfam, another member of the group.
 
The process to reach the current draft text has been flawed, discriminatory and lacking in transparency. It has given outsized influence to the opponents of additional intellectual property flexibilities while limiting, or even excluding, the voice of some countries hit hardest by inequality in access to Covid-19 technologies. In addition, civil society organizations have not been able to participate meaningfully in the process and have been criticized for raising legitimate concerns, said People's health movement which is also part of the group.
 
“The draft Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement is inadequate and contradictory to the WTO’s foundational principles, and results from a flawed and exclusionary process. We therefore call on you, as Trade Ministers, to not accept this current text and demand a real and effective TRIPS waiver, as originally proposed under IP/C/W/669/Rev., delivered via democratic, transparent and accountable negotiations,” observed the NGOs.
 
Speaking at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference held in Geneva from June 12-15, 2022, Union minister of commerce and industry Piyush Goyal has stressed that India’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic would not be complete without a TRIPS waiver. The WTO and its members should redouble its efforts and commence negotiations on therapeutics and diagnostics as well, as part of the WTO’s response to pandemic, stated Goyal.
 
The draft says “Notwithstanding the provision of patent rights under its domestic legislation, an eligible member which includes all developing countries lacking capacity to export Covid-19 vaccines may limit the rights provided for under Article 28.1 of the TRIPS Agreement by authorizing the use of patented finished Covid-19 vaccine products, ingredients and processes necessary for the manufacture of the Covid-19 vaccine without the consent of the right holder to the extent necessary to address the Covid-19 pandemic, in accordance with the provisions of Article 31 of the Agreement, as clarified and waived in paragraphs 2 to 6 of the document.”
 
Developing country members who exported more than 10 per cent of world exports of Covid-19 vaccine doses in 2021 are not eligible members, clarified the draft.
 
An eligible member may waive the requirement of Article 31(f) that authorized use under Article 31 be predominantly to supply its domestic market and may allow any proportion of the products manufactured under the authorization in accordance with this decision to be exported to eligible members, including through international or regional joint initiatives that aim to ensure the equitable access of eligible members to the Covid-19 vaccine covered by the authorization, it added.
 
The document specified that TRIPS waiver for Covid vaccines would remain enforced for at least three years. Pharmabiz