WTO Annual Report Highlights TRIPS Amendment

By Elise De Geyter for Intellectual Property Watch

“A moment of real historic significance for the World Trade Organization” was the entry into force of the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) together with the amendment to Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo said this week.

Azevêdo made his statement about the recently published WTO annual report of 2017. The report covers the activities of the organisation in 2016 and the beginning of 2017.

The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) which entered into force in February 2017 has been “the biggest global trade deal so far this century,” according to Azevêdo. The agreement aims at spurring the cross-border movement of goods by making customs procedures transparent and streamlined, which lead to important economic benefits, the annual report said (IPW, WTO/TFA, 23 February 2017).

The amendment of the TRIPS Agreement allows the export of generic versions of patented medicines to countries which do not have the capacity to manufacture the generic medicines they need, according to the annual report (IPW, WTO/TRIPS, 23 January 2017).