Upcoming TRIPS Council: IP And Sports, Green Tech, Public Health

The upcoming meeting of the World Trade Organization committee on intellectual property includes a newcomer on the agenda. The European Union, Jamaica, Mexico and the United States have requested an agenda item on intellectual property and sports.

Ecuador has also requested that the WTO Council on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), meeting from 10-11 October, discuss the contribution of intellectual property to facilitate the transfer of “environmentally rational technology.” Ecuador submitted a paper on the subject at the last TRIPS Council meeting (IPW, WTO/TRIPS, 13 June 2013).

This session of the TRIPS Council is also expected to discuss non-violation complaints, in which a WTO member may address the Dispute Settlement Body even when a WTO agreement has not been violated, but when that government “can show that it has been deprived of an expected benefit because of another government’s action, or because of any other situation that exists,” according to the WTO. A decision on extending the expiring moratorium on TRIPS-related non-violation complaints is expected to be taken by the WTO Ministerial Conference from 3-6 December in Bali.

The TRIPS Council will likely also proceed to the annual review of how the so-called paragraph 6 system is implemented. Paragraph 6 refers to the 2001 Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health and is a temporary waiver to TRIPS Article 31(f) which states that products made under compulsory licensing must be predominantly for the domestic market. The waiver “makes it easier for countries to import cheaper generics under compulsory licensing if they are unable to manufacture the medicines themselves,” according to the WTO. To date, the waiver has only been used once since its adoption in 2003.

In 2013, Chile and Montenegro joined the list of countries which have accepted the 2005 amendment to TRIPS paragraph 31(f) that would enshrine this waiver into the agreement, but the total does not yet reach the two-thirds membership needed to formally amend the TRIPS Agreement. The 2003 temporary waiver stands in the meantime.