WTO's TRIPS Council Continues Talks on COVID-19 IP Waiver Ahead of MC12

The World Trade Organization's Council for Trade-Related Aspects of IP Rights pledged to continue active discussions up until the 12th Ministerial Conference to find a common intellectual property response to COVID-19, the WTO said Nov. 18. MC12 will run Nov. 30-Dec. 3. The council members adopted the oral status report, which the TRIPS Council chair will submit to the General Council. The text gives an overview on TRIPS Council discussions in the past year on a proposal from India and South Africa and one from the European Union. The former seeks a waiver from certain TRIPS Agreement provisions for the "prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19," while the latter wants a General Council declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health "in the circumstances of a pandemic." The WTO noted disagreements on whether the waiver or EU proposal is the most effective way to "address the shortage and inequitable distribution of, and access to, vaccines and other COVID-19-related products." The EU proposal also faces a fundamental query about whether its measures are effective enough to address vaccine distribution, the WTO said. The TRIPS Council will remain in session in pursuit of a solution ahead of MC12. It formally resumes Nov. 29. As the General Council meets Nov. 22-23, this means that the TRIPS Council will remain in session beyond the General Council and potentially all the way to the Ministerial Conference.