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

H.E. Ambassador Dagfinn Sørli and Ambassador Dr. Lansana Gberie
3 IP MEASURES IN THE CONTEXT OF COVID-19

96.   China would like to thank the Secretariat and Members for their measures responding to the pandemic. Sharing relevant measures in an open and transparent manner will help Members learn from each other and better respond to the pandemic. China has made two notifications in this regard and we are willing to continue our participation into the experience sharing exercises as appropriate.

The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to this item at its next meeting.
15. The Chair recalled that this agenda item had been discussed in the Council since its informal open-ended meeting in June 2020 and had remained on the Council's agenda at its formal meetings since then. The purpose of this item was to facilitate exchange of views on measures undertaken as the pandemic continued.
16. He referred to the compilation "COVID-19: Measures Regarding Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights" – available from the WTO website – which 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 the attention of the Secretariat was slowing down. He thanked those Members that had informed the Secretariat of measures that should be included in this list, as well as any update or information on the expiry – or end of application – of such measures and encouraged others to do the same.
17. The Chair recalled that in earlier meetings of the Council, and at 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. At the Council's October 2021 meeting, the Secretariat had presented an updated set of data from different sources under this agenda item. The Chair invited the Secretariat to provide a further update on the data compilation.
18. The Secretariat took the floor.
19. The representatives of South Africa; the United States; and China and took the floor.
20. The Chair thanked the Secretariat and the Members for their statements. In view of the continued interest on this agenda item, he proposed that the Council revert to the item at its next meeting, so that exchanges could once again take place, including on the basis of the updated Secretariat document of COVID-19-related IP measures.
21. The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to this item at its next meeting.
IP/C/M/104/Add.1, IP/C/M/104/Rev.1, IP/C/M104