|
||
|
TWN
Info Service on Intellectual Property Issues (Mar22/07) Geneva, 18 Mar (D. Ravi Kanth) – Efforts seem to be underway at the World Trade Organization to link the proposed “deliverables” for the WTO’s 12th ministerial conference (MC12), including the trade and health package and agriculture, to the draft intellectual property (IP) outcome as pre-conditions, said people familiar with the development. Even before the tentative IP outcome was reportedly agreed among the Quad members – the United States, the European Union, India, and South Africa – several countries have already sounded their intentions to link the draft outcome to the overall package of deliverables for MC12, said people, who asked not to be quoted. The proposed possible compromise was leaked on 15 March by stat.news. The Quad members apparently agreed to discuss with their domestic stakeholders and evaluate the draft compromise before they decide on their final stand, said a Quad member. Meanwhile, criticism of the proposed outcome has emerged and there is resounding agreement that the draft does not deliver a meaningful outcome from the TRIPS waiver proposal. Instead, the outcome adds conditions to the use of existing TRIPS flexibilities. The proposed outcome reflects the hard line positions of the EU and the US, with civil society organizations suggesting that it may do little to address equitable access (see SUNS #9536 dated 17 March 2022). NEW CONCENTRIC CIRCLE OF COUNTRIES At a closed-door meeting of trade envoys from a dozen countries convened by the WTO Director-General, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on 16 March, some participants began linking the draft IP outcome with the overall package of issues, including agriculture, said people familiar with the meeting. The dozen countries who took part in the meeting convened by the DG, include the Quad members plus eight other countries – Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Japan, Indonesia, and Australia. Surprisingly, China was not invited to the new concentric circle of members’ meeting convened by the DG and her Deputy Director-General (DDG) Ms Anabel Gonzalez from Costa Rica. At the meeting, Ms Gonzalez is understood to have explained the salient features of the tentative IP outcome, said those familiar with the development. During the meeting, two sets of concerns were apparently raised. Switzerland, the UK, and Japan apparently sought to know the timeframe for the implementation of this “agreement”. As reported in SUNS #9536 dated 17 March 2022, the duration for the draft IP outcome was stated as either 3 or 5 years in square brackets, implying that there is no consensus yet. Canada is understood to have asked whether the tentative outcome would be part of the overall package that could include all other issues. Although the issues were not clearly spelt out at the meeting, for some time now, the EU and the Ottawa Group of countries led by Canada have raised the bar on several issues. The issues are as follows: 1. Trade and health, particularly the controversial text issued by the former facilitator, Ambassador David Walker from New Zealand, as part of the WTO’s response to the pandemic; 2. Fisheries subsidies agreement with weak special and differential treatment provisions; 3. Acceptance of the controversial draft agriculture text issued by the chair of the Doha agriculture negotiating body, Ambassador Gloria Abraham Peralta from Costa Rica, as the basis for finalizing an outcome at MC12; 4. WTO reforms involving a work program to be agreed at MC12; 5. Several other issues including the moratorium on levying customs duties on electronic transmissions. As reported in SUNS #9517 dated 18 February 2022, the draft text issued last month by the then chair of the WTO’s General Council, Ambassador Dacio Castillo from Honduras, made several substantial changes to Walker’s text. Many of these changes were proposed by the developing countries, as reported in the SUNS. At the meeting on 16 March, Brazil apparently linked the tentative IP outcome to agriculture in which it is seeking major deliverables such as a work program to reduce domestic support as well as other issues, said people familiar with the discussions. Significantly, the DG held meetings with different groups of countries including the GRULAC (Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries) and ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) on 17 March to explain the tentative IP outcome, while eliciting the views of members from these two groups. In one of the meetings, the DG is understood to have allegedly said that the draft IP outcome was leaked to the media by an EU member state, said people familiar with the meetings. Although major industrialized countries led by the US and the EU along with their allies had managed to secure the Trade Facilitation Agreement, they seem to have blocked the permanent solution for public stockholding programs for food security and robust special and differential treatment provisions in the draft fisheries subsidies agreement, according to a person with knowledge of the developments. It is apparent that Brazil, the EU, Canada and other developed countries are ready to exploit the extremely weak IP outcome, to advance their agenda at the WTO, if given the opportunity by India, South Africa and other developing countries. EXCLUSIONS FROM DRAFT IP OUTCOME China, Korea, and Brazil could be excluded from the tentative IP outcome. Under the eligible country criterion contained in the draft IP outcome, which refers to “any developing country Member that exported less than 10 percent of world exports of COVID-19 vaccine doses in 2021,” China may not be able to qualify because its share of the world exports of vaccines is around 33.7%, according to the WTO-IMF Covid-19 Vaccine Trade Tracker’s latest figures as of 31 January 2022. In March 2019, according to the US Embassy in Brazil, “President Bolsonaro agreed that Brazil will begin to forgo SDT [special and differential treatment] in WTO negotiations, in line with the United States proposal.” The then WTO DG Roberto Azevedo clarified in a March 2019 Reuters article that this includes giving up the ability to benefit from differentiated treatment for developing countries in future WTO negotiations. The same Reuters article noted that in return for Brazil agreeing to give up SDT in negotiations after 19 March 2019, the US would back Brazil’s bid to become a member of the OECD. If to benefit from the Quad’s proposed text as written, Brazil reverses its agreement to give up SDT in WTO negotiations post March 2019, it is unclear if the US will now stop supporting Brazil’s bid to join the OECD. In October 2019, also before the COVID-19 pandemic, South Korea’s Finance Minister said, “The government decided not to seek special treatment as a developing country from future negotiations at WTO” and that this decision is “not to forego the developing country status, but is to not seek any special treatment from the negotiations going forward.” Since the Quad’s proposed outcome is special treatment for developing countries in negotiations post October 2019, South Korea may not be able to use it. Other WTO members seem to have also given up their developing country status or ability to enjoy SDT in WTO negotiations. On 27 January 2020, the US Mission in Geneva stated that Singapore also agreed to forgo SDT in current and future negotiations, and according to a November 2019 Bloomberg article, Chinese Taipei also agreed to relinquish its developing-country rights in future trade negotiations. MC12 Despite the looming dark clouds due to the worsening military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which could scupper MC12 that is scheduled to be held in the second week of June, some members now appear to be suggesting that the ministerial conference can be held on 12-15 June, said people, who asked not to be quoted.
|
||
