29. The representative of Malaysia supported the statement made by Brazil on behalf of the group of developing countries for an authoritative interpretation of an Article 30 exception which recognized a limited exception to the rights of patent holders so that WTO Members could authorize third parties to manufacture, sell and export patented products to meet the public health needs of the importing beneficiary country in accordance with the procedure laid out in Article 31 of the TRIPS Agreement. She said that a paragraph 6 solution could form one of the exceptions allowed under Article 30. This provided an expeditious solution as opposed to the time-consuming process of an amendment. The solution should extend to all countries that had insufficient or no manufacturing capacity. Lack of manufacturing capacity did not mean lack of technological infrastructure only. Economies of scale should form an important part of the assessment and a situation might arise in the future where a condition might have to be reversed. Any determination of manufacturing capacity should be carried out by the country itself and any objective criteria set out must follow the principles in paragraph 6. She said that paragraph 1 of the Declaration provided guidance on the extent of product coverage but that it was difficult to define product coverage until the specific public health problem was known. She said that a pre-determined definition would circumscribe the ways to overcome the problem. Also limiting the suppliers to developing countries alone made the solution presented by compulsory licences, ineffective.
