EU Calls for Compulsory Licensing Option for COVID Vaccines at WTO

When voluntary licensing fails, compulsory licensing should be used as a tool to ameliorate vaccine production globally, the European Union said in a proposal to the World Trade Organization. The proposal calls for ensuring that COVID-19 vaccines can freely cross borders, encouraging vaccine producers to expand production and offer them to countries most in need at a fair price and facilitating the use of compulsory licensing within the WTO's existing Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the European Commission said in a June 4 news release.

Compulsory licensing occurs when a government grants a producer a license to manufacture a product without the patent holder's consent. The prospect of compulsory licensing has led to an elongated discussion over TRIPS (see 2105040015). The U.S. recently backed a waiver of the TRIPS agreement to facilitate greater vaccine production globally.

The EU proposal suggests that all WTO members should be prepared to waive the requirement to negotiate with patent holders where necessary, support vaccine manufacturers with a compulsory license when needed and “agree that the compulsory license could cover any exports destined to countries that lack manufacturing capacity, including via the COVAX facility.” It said, however, that voluntary licenses would be preferable and “the most effective instrument to facilitate the expansion of production and sharing of expertise.”

The proposal also suggests limiting export restrictions and expanding vaccine production. To grow production, “such actions could include licensing agreements, the sharing of expertise, tiered pricing including non-profit sales to low-income countries, contract manufacturing and new investments in manufacturing facilities in developing countries,” the release said.

“The EU has actively shown solidarity with the world since the beginning of the pandemic,” EC President Ursula von der Leyen said. “The European Union authorized exports of around half of the total amount of vaccines produced in Europe. Our immediate, urgent goal is to ensure equitable access for low- and middle-income countries, to share vaccines wider and faster. And we continue to help ramping up production. The EU proposes concrete short and medium-term solutions to ensure universal access at affordable prices. I am looking forward to discussing with the G7 leaders next week how to achieve this goal. Beyond the current crisis, it is important to ensure global preparedness for future pandemics: diversifying manufacturing so that it is not centralised only in a handful of countries and strengthening the resilience of the healthcare infrastructure in least-developed countries.”