The doha declaration and the recent decision on the implementation of paragraph 6 of the doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health may provide more freedom for developing countries in using these safeguards. World trade organization wtl540641 2 september 2003 8 december 2005 03 458205 5842implementation of paragraph 6 amendment of the doha declaration on the tripstrips agreement and public health decision of 30 august 2003 6 december 2005 the general council. The doha declaration m d nair a11, sagarica 15, 3rd seawant road, valmiki nagar, thiruvanmiyur, chennai received 28 january 2002 the doha declaration on trips and public health has very little new matter. Declaration on the trips agreement and public health, wtmin01dec2. The doha declaration on trips and public health ten years. Developing country members sent a clear signal that they would take steps to protect and advance their essential interests.
Many anticipated that these actions would lead nations to claim compulsory licenses cls for pharmaceutical products with greater regularity. Having lost rights to treat medicines as essential commodities and as. The doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health 2001, aimed at improving access to medicines, especially for hivaids, malaria and tuberculosis in developing and least developed. The legal status of the doha declaration on trips and public. Contextdeveloping countries need for access to essential onpatent medicines for treating hivaids and other diseases as recognized by the u. Ip and public health and environment policy for asian and pacific region. Trade related aspects of intellectual property rights trips. In 2001, wto members adopted a special ministerial declaration at the wto ministerial conference in doha to clarify ambiguities between the need for governments to apply the principles of public health and the terms of the agreement on traderelated aspects of intellectual property rights trips. Doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health. The wtos dispute settlement bodies have not directly addressed these divergent interpretations. However, the trips agreement also allows coun tries to take. The member governments agreed on an independent declaration relating to the trips agreement and its role in alleviating public health crises worldwide. The need for a legal solution to the compulsory licence problem was outlined in the doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health of 14 november 2001. Pdf trends in compulsory licensing of pharmaceuticals.
The world health organizations wto decision of august 30, 2003 set. It reaffirmed flexibility of trips member states in circumventing patent rights for better access to essential medicines in paragraphs 4 to 6 of the doha declaration, governments agreed that. Doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health, namely a means of ensuring access to lowcost essential medicines in developing countries, which lack the manufacturing capacity to take advantage of the compulsory licensing provisions of the trips agreement when faced with public health crises. The doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health and the contradictory trend in bilateral and regional free trade agreements december, 27 2011. Regarding paragraph 6 of the doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health professor brook k. The november 2001 declaration of the fourth ministerial conference in doha, qatar, and its cousin, the declaration on the trips agreement and public health the doha declaration, 1 address trade topics of economic importance to developing countries, and in particular, the controversial issue of how the wtos rules on patents may harm. We recognize the gravity of the public health problems afflicting many developing and leastdeveloped countries, especially those resulting from hivaids, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics.
This controversy led to the doha declaration on public health of november 200. This mandate is given to trips council, who must report by the end of 2002 on solutions to this problem. The doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health recognized that developing countries with insufficient, or no manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical sector could face difficulties in making effective use of compulsory licensing under the trips agreement. There were three primary concerns about the trips agreement that were addressed by the doha declaration 5. Having regard to paragraphsparagraph 1, 3 and 4 of article ixx of the marrakesh agreement. The world trade organisations declaration on the trips agreement and public health known as the doha declaration of 2001, and subsequent decision on the interpretation of paragraph 6 reached in. A cl is the use of a patented innovation that has been licensed by a. Doha declaration and public health issues n lalitha gujarat institute of development research, gota, ahmedabad 380 060, gujarat, india received 7 july 2008 adhering to the trips agreement in the pharmaceutical sector poses several questions before developing countries and least developed countries concerning public health. Trips wtmin01dec2 20 november 2001 declaration on the trips agreement and public health. The updated status of the same is available at the wto site. The doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health was adopted by the world trade organisation wto in the fourth session of ministerial conference on 14th november, 2001. In this regard, the doha declaration enshrines the principles who has publicly advocated and advanced over the years, namely the reaffirmation of the right of wto members to make full use of the.
The doha declaration affirms the right of member states to implement policies to enable access to medicines to address a national public health crisis. Doha declaration on trips and public health world health. Paragraph 6 of the doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health nonpaper from switzerland the following text has been made available by the delegation of switzerland for distribution as a nonpaper in the trips council meeting of 1719 september 2002. 14, 2001 hereinafter doha declaration, available at. Trips, the doha declaration and paragraph 6 decision. This paper focuses on ghana, a developing country that recently changed its patent laws to conform to trips standards. The wtos fourth ministerial conference was held in doha qatar on 9 november. It is rather areiteration of the fundamental tenets embodied in the trips agreement. The doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health was adopted by the wto ministerial conference of 2001 in doha on november 14, 2001. Pdf the world trade organisations declaration on the trips agreement and public health known as the doha declaration of 2001, and subsequent. The november 2001 doha declaration on trips and public health the doha declaration was in part necessitated by these divergent perspectives. We stress the need for the wto agreement on traderelated aspects of intellectual property.
The doha declaration on the trips agreement and public. The doha declaration affirms that the trips agreement does not and should not prevent members from taking measures to protect public health. The doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health and the. Doha, 9 14 november 2001 declaration on the trips agreement and public health adopted on 14 november 2001 1. Background it is now a decade since the world trade organization wto adopted the declaration on the trips agreement and public health at its 4th ministerial conference in doha. The agreement subsequently reached by wto members on 30 august 2003 in response to paragraph 6 of the doha declaration is seen as key to improving access to essential medicines in. We recognize the gravity of the public health problems afflicting many developing and leastdeveloped countries, especially those resulting from hivaids, tuberculosis, malaria. The declaration on the trips agreement and public health made at the. The doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health 2001, aimed at improving access to medicines, especially for hivaids, malaria and tuberculosis in developing and least developed countries, has not yet been used for compulsory licences to import generic medicines or for expanding production for export to poor countries. The 2002 doha declaration affirmed that the trips agreement should not prevent members from taking measures necessary to protect public health. Quaker united nations office geneva quno, occasional paper no. Declaration on the trips agreement and public health wto. Can international patent law help mitigate cancer inequity.
Support the research and development of vaccines and medicines for the communicable and noncommunicable diseases that primarily affect developing countries, provide access to affordable essential medicines and vaccines, in accordance with the doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health, which affirms the right of. The wto ministerial recently agreed the doha declaration on public health, whose political goal is to promote access to patented medicines in developing countries. Calls on the commission to persevere in the trips council to ensure that the minimum rules incorporated into national law are accompanied by effective enforcement measures and measures to prevent infringements. Wtmin01decw2 14 november 2001 015770 ministerial conference fourth session doha, 9 14 november 2001 declaration on the trips agreement and public health 1. No decision was taken on this proposal, as it was postponed under paragraph 6 of the doha declaration on public health. The world trade organisations declaration on the trips agreement and public health known as the doha declaration of 2001, and subsequent decision on the interpretation of paragraph 6 reached in 2003, affirmed the flexibilities available under the agreement on trade related property rights trips to member states seeking to protect public health. The adoption by ministers on 14 november 2001, in doha, of the ministerial declaration on the trips agreement and public health marked a turning point in political and legal relations at the wto.
Designed to respond to concerns about the negative impact of the trips agreement on access to medicines, the declaration on the trips agreement and public health doha declaration, adopted at the doha ministerial conference, explicitly clarified for the first time what flexibilities inherent in the trips agreement can be used by wto members to combat a public health crisis. The trips agreement does not and should not prevent. Recalling paragraph 4 of the doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health which states that the trips agreement does not and should not prevent members from taking measures to protect public health. Pdf trips, the doha declaration and paragraph 6 decision. Pdf the doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health 2001, aimed at improving access to medicines, especially for.
Doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health, adopted in. Paragraph 6 of the doha declaration on the trips agreement. Declaration on the trips agreement and public health. And as a result of intense lobbying and pressure from the africa group, and from brazil and india as supplying countries, the fourth ministerial meeting at doha in november 2001 produced a declaration on the trips agreement and public health. In the doha declaration wto members committed themselves to implementing and. The declaration calls attention to the flexible solutions provided by the trips agreement to fight diseases such as hivaids, tuberculosis and. Trips agreement of the wto and the pharmaceuticals the agreement on traderelated aspects of intellectual property rights trips1, announced in the uruguay round in 1994 as part. The wto doha ministerial conference in november of 2001 adopted a declaration addressing this problem declaration on the trips agreement and public health of 14 november 2001 doha declaration. The doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health, adopted by the wto ministerial conference in november 2001, which affirms that the trips agreement should be interpreted and implemented so as to protect public health and promote access to medicines for all, marked a watershed in international trade. Impact of paragraph 6 of doha declaration on public health. Trips, the doha declaration and increasing access to. Even though the doha declaration on trips agreement and public health hereinafter doha declaration and the implementation of paragraph 6 of the doha declaration on the trips agreement and public health hereinafter 2003 decision recognize the gravity of. The declarations adopted by wto members at the conference.
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