Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

Ambassador Federico A. González (Paraguay) (24-25 October) and Mr. Martin Glass (Hong Kong, China) (17 November)
N AUSTRALIA'S TOBACCO PLAIN PACKAGING BILL 2011
389. The representative of Brazil said that the interplay between public health and IP had now been discussed for a number of years from different angles and in different fora, and the international community had now agreed on a solid international regulatory framework to deal with this issue. At the World Health Organization's Conference on Social Determinants of Health held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's foreign minister, Ambassador Antonio Patriota, had stressed the fact that "the whole international community acknowledges that the flexibilities included in international treaties on intellectual property constitute a consolidated legal framework, either in the WHO, at the WTO or at WIPO." 390. With respect to the WTO, he said that Article 8 of the TRIPS Agreement specifically authorized Members to adopt measures necessary to protect public health and nutrition in addition to those intended to promote the public interest in sectors of vital importance to social, economic and technological development. The Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health also made it clear that the TRIPS Agreement did not and should not prevent Members from taking measures to protect public health and that it could and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of the WTO Members rights' to protect public health. Finally, in the WHO, 172 countries, parties to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control had reaffirmed in the Punta del Este Declaration their commitment to prioritize the implementation of health measures designed to control tobacco consumption and had reasserted the right of states to define and implement national public health policies to protect their people. 391. In conclusion, he said that it was Brazil's view that all countries were allowed, by the present body of international rules on IP to adopt whatever measure they deemed it fit to protect the public health of their respective populations. Tobacco control was clearly a public health priority worldwide and nation-wide.
IP/C/M/67