277. There is an extensive consultation process ongoing in the Brazilian Government on the issue of Non-Violation and Situation Complaints applied to the TRIPS Agreement. Several government agencies are being consulted, so that we can have as broad a perspective as possible on the matter. As we all know, jurisprudence regarding NVSC applied to IP is scarce. So, we are navigating uncharted waters.
278. In the past decade or so, we have seen a growing number of NVSC provisions applied to IP in regional and bilateral trade agreements. However, we have not seen sufficient litigation referring to these provisions. The lack of concrete cases leads us to an assessment exercise that is essentially abstract in nature.
279. In 2019, South Africa has kindly shared with us a discussion paper on the issue of NVSCs. The paper gives important hints on possible avenues regarding scope and modalities, based on contributions made by Members in the discussions over the last two decades. The alternatives presented in this document, among others, are being considered in our internal assessment.
280. In a scenario where the moratorium expired, it would be important for us to guarantee that guidelines had been previously agreed by Members for the application of NVSCs to the TRIPS Agreement, thus avoiding a situation where panels (and the Appellate Body) had to fill the normative gap.
281. For us, any solution to this issue must have the Members' footprint.