EU formula for TRIPs row: Let WHO assess health problems

The European Union (EU) has come up with a compromise formula to break the deadlock on the vexed issue of Trade Related Intellectual Propert...

The European Union (EU) has come up with a compromise formula to break the deadlock on the vexed issue of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and public health. While the list of 15 diseases culled out by the EU for coverage under the agreement is more or less in line with US proposal, it has introduced a new element by suggesting that the World Health Organisation (WHO) should be entrusted with the task of assessing the occurrence of ‘other public health problems’.

India, which is presently studying the EU’s ‘multilateral solution’, has been maintaining that the agreement, in addition to infectious diseases, should also cover life threatening ailments mentioned in the Doha Declaration (Para 6). The US, on the other hand, argued that the list should be restricted to infectious diseases.

In a letter to World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi and other WTO trade ministers, European trade commissioner Pascal Lamy listed 15 infectious diseases which he felt were generally recognised by health experts as those which had the most damaging impact on developing countries. However, he added that the concerns raised by certain members regarding other potential public health problems also needed to be addressed. ‘‘For these problems, we need to find a mechanism to ensure that the Doha Declaration can be used in good faith,’’ Lamy said.

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Lamy suggested that WHO should be entrusted with the task of assessing the occurrence of other public health problems. This approach will be fully in line with the Doha Declaration and deliver a strong focus on major diseases afflicting the developing world, while offering sufficient flexibility to developing countries to tackle other public health problems if they arise, Lamy suggested.

The European trade commissioner added that the text of the TRIPs Council draft decision on the issue remained acceptable to the EU. ‘‘It strikes a fair and delicate balance between all interests involved and provides for a solution that is workable, sustainable and legally secure.’’

When implemented, the draft declaration on TRIPs and public health will allow members to produce and export patented pharmaceutical products to countries with low or no manufacturing capacities, even after the TRIPs regime comes into force.

According to the draft decision, the eligible importing member should make a notification to the council for TRIPs specifying the names and expected quantities for the products needed. The eligible importing member, other than a least-developed country, should establish that it has insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector for the products in question.

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The exporting member should notify the TRIPs Council of the grant of the license, including the conditions attached to it. The importing members should take reasonable measures within their means to prevent re-exportation of products.