452. We thank the delegation of South Africa for coming up with this important communication. We see this as timely reminder on the importance of WTO in discussing the implication of IP rights over the broad range of products, technology and medical supplies that desperately needed for responding to COVID-19 Pandemic.
453. Most of our domestic IP regimes were crafted with compartmentalized approach. In doing so, IP rights laws, excluding patent and maybe trade secret, does not include flexibilities that could address public health policy objectives.
454. This is also true with regional trade agreements. The IP chapters are among the most delicate issues in the negotiation process. In fact, the inability to narrow the gap of interest in IP matters, made some of our regional trade agreements omit the IP Chapter completely in favour of TRIPS Agreement.
455. There is room for improvement in understanding and incorporated flexibilities provided by the TRIPS Agreement in national laws of Members, especially for developing countries. The Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health reaffirms the right of WTO Members to protect public health. While the interpretation of this Declaration is covering all spectrum of IPrights, the application of this principle is inadequately understood at national level.
456. The coverage of intellectual property rights protection for products, medical supplies, technology, therapeutics, and vaccines during this COVID-19 pandemic is indeed broad. The delegation of South Africa rightly pointed out some cases that highlighted the potential impediment mass production of products and technologies highly needed by Members. In addition, we also note increasing legal disputes involving IPrights on vaccines development that could further complicate vaccines development that badly needed.
457. There are two issues that we would like to share in addressing question number two.
458. First, given the scale of infection of COVID-19 globally, scaling-up production of products, technology, medicines, and vaccines will be a key issue in ensuring no countries left behind in access to health for COVID-19. The absence of effective global cooperation in ensuring collaboration in IPrights, makes the scaling-up production depends solely in the industry's policies and strategies.
459. Second, even if some Member has enabling law to ensure application of flexibilities of patents, there are no guarantees of straightforward production due to the fact that a patented product or technology could consist of several IP-rights.
460. We are pleased to learn from the WHO vaccines landscape that many developing-country Members are also in advance stages of developing vaccines for COVID-19. At the same time, cooperation between developing countries in ensuring mass production is also increasing.
461. But we understand that we are still facing huge limitations in access for advanced technology, therapeutics drugs, even vaccines, despite such cooperation. We are hopeful that voluntary licensing schemes, as initiated by a few international organizations could help narrow down these challenges. However, as this scheme mostly leans into the premise of global solidarity from multi-stakeholders, certain barriers, including possible decreasing incentives from monopoly of supply, make voluntary IP pool a wishful thinking.
462. On the issue of trade secrets, we believe that Article 39 Paragraph 3 of the TRIPS Agreement provides legal justification on disclosure of trade secrets where there is a necessity to protect the public. We are convinced that protection of the public also includes national and global pandemic.
463. However, to ensure the effective implementation, national IP law must also regulate the submission of undisclosed test or other data as part of condition of approving the marketing of certain products.
