Sri Lanka

3 IP MEASURES IN THE CONTEXT OF COVID-19

48.   I would like to thank the director of the IP Division for this very valuable presentation, for most of the countries who have been wanting to have this information. I believe that the report and the study, which he referred to, will be circulated to Members. I have seen that the presentation is already available on the Members' website, but we'd like the study that has been used, and for it to be made available to us. 49.   We have a query in relation to the patents. We would like to know whether the study also focuses on the status of patents for some of the vaccines and other therapeutic formulas that have been captured in the study. Because countries like us, have been trying to gather information on the type of vaccines and other correlated medicines and devices and whether these have been patented in various countries. This is the kind of information that is valuable to us. We would also like to know whether this study focuses on the aspect of patents, and whether these patents had become obstacles in arriving at the contractual obligations. Because sometimes these contractual obligations can take the different forms of voluntary contract or compulsory licences. So we would inquire whether this study makes a differentiation between contractual obligations due to voluntary or the compulsory licences. We would like to hear back from the Secretariat, if not in the present meeting, then certainly at a later stage.

14. The Chair recalled that this agenda item had been discussed in the Council since its informal open-ended meeting on 19 June 2020 and had been on the Council's agenda at its formal meetings since then. In light of the broad support for a continuation of these exchanges at the preceding meetings, the item was once again on the agenda to facilitate exchange of views on measures undertaken as the pandemic persists.
15. As one basis for the Council's exchange, he referred to the compilation "COVID-19: Measures regarding trade-related intellectual property rights" that was available from the WTO website and contained a non-exhaustive list of IP-related measures taken in the context of COVID-19, compiled by the Secretariat from official sources and verified by the Members concerned. This list was updated continuously, even if the rate at which new measures are brought to our attention had slowed considerably since the last meeting. He encouraged Members to inform the Secretariat of any measures that should be included on this list, as well as any update or information on the expiry, or end of application, of such measures. He invited Members to inform the Council on their measures.
16. He suggested that, on this occasion, this item also be used to hear from the Secretariat regarding other information it had been asked to compile. He recalled that in earlier meetings of the Council, and in the General Council, a number of Members had asked the Secretariat to provide and compile data on the number of voluntary license agreements regarding COVID-19 vaccine production over time, and on the projected and observed volume of vaccine dose production under these agreements. Given that this request also related to information compiled by the Secretariat the Chair suggested that this be dealt with under this item. It was his understanding that the Secretariat had circulated an initial set of data in a room document RD/IP/43 and would be ready to provide a short introduction to this document.
17. The representatives of Chile; the United States; and China took the floor.
18. The Secretariat took the floor to present documents RD/IP/43 and RD/IP/44.
19. The representatives of Sri Lanka and South Africa took the floor.
20. The Chair thanked the Secretariat for the information presented and said that an update of such information would be appreciated and would contribute to the deliberations of the Council.
21. The Chair proposed that, in view of the continued interest on this agenda item, the Council agree to revert to the item at its next meeting, so that the exchanges can once again take place, including on the basis of the updated Secretariat document of COVID-19 related IP measures.
22. The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to this item at its next meeting.