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TWN
Info Service on Intellectual Property Issues (Dec22/05) Geneva, 21 Dec (D. Ravi Kanth) — Members on 20 December agreed to suspend the agenda item relating to paragraph eight of the WTO’ 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) Decision on the TRIPS Agreement concerning the extension of the Decision to cover the “production and supply of COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics” until the next session of the WTO’s General Council (GC), expected to take place on 2-3 March 2023, said people familiar with the development. At the beginning of the GC meeting on 20 December, the chair, Ambassador Didier Chambovey from Switzerland, apparently sought to know whether there is any update from the co-sponsors or the opponents to a short duration of three months to arrive at a decision, said participants, who asked not to be quoted. In the absence of any response from the co-sponsors or the opponents, Ambassador Chambovey apparently said that he has two options – to keep the TRIPS Council decision of 16 December as it is, or conclude that there is no consensus on the issue, said participants. The TRIPS Council had recommended to the GC on 16 December that “in view of paragraph 8 of the Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement adopted on 17 June 2022 providing that “[n]o later than six months from the date of this Decision, Members will decide on its extension to cover the production and supply of COVID-19 diagnostics and therapeutics, the TRIPS Council recommends that the General Council extend the deadline.” In immediate response to the chair’s options, the South African trade envoy Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi-Peters appears to have said that the chair cannot conclude by saying that there is no consensus. She argued that right now, there is no disagreement on extending the deadline, the disagreement is on the duration of extension of the deadline, said participants, who asked not to be quoted. South Africa also appears to have asked the GC chair to consider keeping a third option on the table of agreeing to a decision on extending the MC12 TRIPS Decision of 17 June to therapeutics and diagnostics. In his reply to the South African trade envoy, the GC chair said he will revisit the issue in the post-lunch session. At 1500 hours on 20 December, the chair apparently said the issue will remain in suspension until the first GC meeting in 2023, implying that members can carry on discussions until the first GC meeting tentatively scheduled for 2 March. Meanwhile, the US trade envoy, Ambassador Maria Pagan, appears to have consulted with the US Trade Representative (USTR) and apparently conveyed its willingness to continue discussions, said a participant, who asked not to be quoted. At 1700 hours, the chair finally conveyed that the issue will remain under suspension until the first GC meeting in 2023, implying that discussions will continue until the first GC meeting in the new year, said participants, who asked not to be quoted. Indonesia apparently said that “on the agenda item concerning paragraph eight”, it echoed “the statements of the TRIPS waiver co-sponsors delivered by Ambassador Xolelwa, and our support to the document WT/GC/W/860 – IP/C/W/694.” However, Indonesia apparently lamented that it is regrettable that members have reached another impasse as previously experienced before MC12. Indonesia reminded members that “to present a WTO that is agile, responsive, and caters to the needs of all, any extension on paragraph 8, must be as short as possible, preferably to be decided in the next General Council meeting in early 2023.” The Indonesian trade envoy, Ambassador Dandy Satria Iswara, told the GC meeting that “on the agenda of Paragraph 8 of the Ministerial Decision on TRIPS Agreement, while echoing previous statements of the TRIPS waiver co-sponsors delivered by Ambassador Xolelwa, and our support to the document WT/GC/W/860 – IP/C/W/694, it is regrettable that we have reached another impasse as previously experienced before the MC12. In fact, after the conclusion of the MC12, the Decision was criticized as coming too little and too late.” The GC chair’s statement at the GC meeting on 20 December apparently came after continued discussions between the co-sponsors from the developing countries, who proposed a three-month deadline for the implementation of the decision, and the opponents led by the US, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom who opposed any early deadline for implementing paragraph eight of the Ministerial Decision on the TRIPS Agreement. The 65 co-sponsors of the original TRIPS waiver proposal did not propose the above compromise though they agreed somewhat reluctantly and regrettably to it, said a participant, who asked not to be quoted. After the US apparently blocked a demand from many developing countries who sought an extension of the 17 December deadline by three more months, the GC chair said there is no consensus on this issue at this juncture. In short, there appears to be three deadlines – the 17 December deadline on paragraph eight, followed by the GC’s decision to continue discussions until the first GC meeting in March 2023, and the deadline to consider the next steps at the GC meeting in March 2023, said participants, who asked not to be quoted. As a consequence, the MC12 decisions seem to have suffered a body blow due to the abject failure of complying with the decisions. In her somewhat celebratory statement after MC12, the Director-General, Ms Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, wrote in Project Syndicate on 1 July, “for example, ministers struck a compromise on a long-debated proposal to waive intellectual-property protections related to COVID-19 countermeasures. Current COVID-19 vaccine supplies remain heavily dependent on the four WTO members that together account for over 90% of exported doses. As the pandemic has shown, many import-dependent regions are vulnerable to export restrictions introduced by other countries in the face of domestic crises.” Without mentioning the deadline for extending the vaccine decision to diagnostics and therapeutics within six months (by 17 December 2022), she argued that “governments at the center of the negotiations believe that the outcome – which has been criticized by public-health activists for doing too little and by pharmaceutical firms for going too far – will contribute to ongoing efforts to de-concentrate and diversify vaccine manufacturing capacity. This is significant for the future resilience of global vaccine supplies. Ministers also pledged to keep cross-border trade in medical supplies and components open and transparent, which will help members to gain better access to products needed to fight this pandemic – and to prepare better for the next one.” Despite such allegedly “hyperbolic” claims, it is not clear what the DG would say when the WTO has undermined the integrity and credibility of the MC12 deadline on diagnostics and therapeutics, said people, who asked not to be quoted. +
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