PHA-Exchange> Talks On TRIPS and Health Stall As Deadline Nears

[CLAUDIO at hcmc.netnam.vn]

Negotiations to expand the availability of medicines under a World Trade 
Organisation agreement on 
intellectual property rights by 31 March broke down Monday after informal 
consultations showed no 
compromise forthcoming, according to diplomatic sources in Geneva.

At issue is an amendment of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of 
Intellectual Property 
Rights (TRIPS) to allow countries producing generic pharmaceuticals under 
compulsory license to 
export those products to other countries in need. Failure to resolve 
differences on the issue could 
have a negative impact on the outcome of the December WTO ministerial in Hong 
Kong, Kenya reportedly 
said in the consultations.

After parties failed to budge from their positions at Monday’s informal 
consultations on TRIPS and 
public health, TRIPS Council Chair Tony Miller of Hong Kong dropped plans to 
reconvene a suspended 
council meeting on the issue before a 31 March deadline, according to sources. 
That deadline set in 
June 2004 (which was the previous deadline) was the point at which members 
were to amend the TRIPS 
agreement to formalize a waiver of a TRIPS provision prohibiting the export of 
products produced 
under compulsory license. The waiver was agreed to on 30 August 2003, and the 
change is seen as 
consistent with the 2001 Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health.

Miller said he would check in with members on 29 March to see if further 
consultations are desired 
for 30-31 March. The formal meeting could be reconvened if there is a prospect 
of consensus, sources 
said.

Monday’s consultation, which was attended by about 40 delegates, followed 
the suspended formal TRIPS 
Council meeting held on 8-9 March.

At the Monday meeting, no progress was seen on the provisions of the 
amendment, how the amendment 
would be made, or how the chair’s statement read out at the time of the 
waiver should be reflected, 
according to sources. Parties could not agree whether the amendment should be 
made by adding to 
TRIPS Article 31 (on uses without authorisation of the rights holder), or by 
putting the waiver in 
an annex and referring to it in the text or in a footnote in the body of the 
agreement.

Kenya argued that the African members’ proposal for an amendment is a direct 
translation of the 30 
August 2003 waiver, with some small, technical differences, including 
deletions of redundant pieces. 
The Philippines said the African proposal is an accurate reflection of the 30 
August decision, but 
added that the question of limiting the amendment to technical changes is 
debatable.

But Switzerland and the United States said their fears that countries want to 
renegotiate provisions 
of the waiver were confirmed. They do not want any weakening of safeguards 
preventing the diversion 
of medicines to inappropriate markets. The two countries along with the 
European Union said they 
could agree to some deletions of truly redundant parts of the text.

Monday’s discussion included a debate over the “life and death” urgency 
of the issue for many 
countries whose populations are in critical need, and the possible immorality 
of delaying agreement 
on the amendment. Switzerland countered the charge of lost morality, arguing 
that members agreed to 
the waiver and are amending their laws and regulations to allow its 
implementation, a source said.

Besides the late March consultation, the next formal meetings of the council 
are tentatively 
scheduled for 14-15 June and 25-26 October.





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