Public Health Related TRIPS-plus Provisions in Bilateral Trade Agreements

Public Health Related TRIPS-plus Provisions in Bilateral Trade Agreements PDF Author: Mohammed El Said
Publisher: Emro Publication
ISBN: 9789290216667
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Access to essential medicines and health technologies is a huge public health challenge, especially in developing countries where the majority of the poor lack any form of social protection and health systems are under-resourced. The long and strong patent regimes introduced by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in 1995 and the TRIPS-plus provisions of many bilateral trade agreements are among the challenges to improving this access. Mandated by the World Health Assembly, the independent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health (CIPIH) recommended that "Bilateral trade agreements should not seek to incorporate TRIPS-plus protection in ways that may reduce access to medicines in developing countries". This publication presents a clear and frank analysis of the subject from a purely public health perspective, and should be of interest to policy-makers in ministries of health as well as ministries of trade, commerce, finance, foreign affairs and all those who take part in trade negotiations on behalf of their citizens. It provides a comprehensive background to the subject, the implications of TRIPS-plus for access to essential medicines and health technologies, and guidance on how to deal with these complex issues.

Public Health Related TRIPS-plus Provisions in Bilateral Trade Agreements

Public Health Related TRIPS-plus Provisions in Bilateral Trade Agreements PDF Author: Mohammed El Said
Publisher: Emro Publication
ISBN: 9789290216667
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Access to essential medicines and health technologies is a huge public health challenge, especially in developing countries where the majority of the poor lack any form of social protection and health systems are under-resourced. The long and strong patent regimes introduced by the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in 1995 and the TRIPS-plus provisions of many bilateral trade agreements are among the challenges to improving this access. Mandated by the World Health Assembly, the independent Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health (CIPIH) recommended that "Bilateral trade agreements should not seek to incorporate TRIPS-plus protection in ways that may reduce access to medicines in developing countries". This publication presents a clear and frank analysis of the subject from a purely public health perspective, and should be of interest to policy-makers in ministries of health as well as ministries of trade, commerce, finance, foreign affairs and all those who take part in trade negotiations on behalf of their citizens. It provides a comprehensive background to the subject, the implications of TRIPS-plus for access to essential medicines and health technologies, and guidance on how to deal with these complex issues.

Trade Agreements and Public Health

Trade Agreements and Public Health PDF Author: Deborah Gleeson
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9811504857
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 187

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Book Description
The need for policy coherence between trade and health has never been greater, yet few public health workers are equipped to navigate this complex field. This book aims to fill this gap, providing a focused and readable introduction to the topic. It introduces the principles underpinning trade treaties and examines the implications of trade rules for health services and access to medicines, unhealthy commodities, labour rights and the environment. It explores the trade policy making process, methods for trade and health research, and recommendations for strengthening policy coherence.

Free Trade Agreements and Access to Medicines

Free Trade Agreements and Access to Medicines PDF Author: Manoranjan Ayilyath
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
TRIPS Agreement was entered into by WTO members as a means to create a unified Intellectual Property regime across the world. The provisions of TRIPS act as a minimum standard which has to be followed by the member countries. TRIPS provisions had forced the developing and least developed countries to create and follow an IP regime which was not suitable for their technology and needs. One of the severe impacts of following such a regime was on the public health sector. Before TRIPS came into being, a large number of countries had refused to grant patents for pharmaceutical products and even if the same was granted the countries provided for a flexible compulsory licensing procedure, enabling the growth of generic drug industries, thus allowing the manufacture of essential drugs at a cheaper cost. This flexibility was taken away by the TRIPS agreement which hampered the capability of the developing and least developed countries to provide for an effective public healthcare system. This disparity led to the Doha Declaration and WTO Para. 6 decision in 2003, allowing more flexible provisions regarding compulsory licensing and thereby to some extends resolving the issues. While these measures were being adopted which were lauded by organs of UN and WHO, the developed countries went on with TRIPS plus provisions in their countries. Recent years have shown the world a new trend amongst the developed countries, wherein they, through the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with the developing countries, impose TRIPS Plus Intellectual Property Standards. The Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) and Bilateral Trade Agreements envisaged under GATT Agreement, had been negotiated mainly for favourable tariff rates and lower customs barriers in the initial stage acting as an exception for the MFN Rule. But recently as mentioned earlier these Agreements are including within them Intellectual Property chapters involving TRIPS Plus provisions. Unlike the GATT and GATS Agreements, TRIPS Agreement does not include any provisions which exempt the application of MFN principle for the Intellectual Property provisions in FTAs. Thus the inclusion of IP chapters in these FTAs results in an increase of the Intellectual Property standards prevailing around the globe. This practice is defeating all the efforts taken by the developing countries including India in Doha to ensure access to medicines for the people of the developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs) and is nullifying the flexibilities under Doha Declaration. If such a policy is allowed to be followed, the flexibilities and the safeguards under TRIPS will remain as a mere scarecrow and in near future itself the TRIPS will lose its significance.

Interpreting and Implementing the TRIPS Agreement

Interpreting and Implementing the TRIPS Agreement PDF Author: Justin Malbon
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1848442866
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
The chapters in this volume provide insightful analysis and commentary on TRIPS and, importantly, the TRIPS Plus world that many countries operate in. . . This is a fine contribution to the growing literature of interdisciplinary analyses of the global IP regime. . . there is enough in here that makes the book worth acquiring and reading. Scholars of development more generally will find this book to be useful both for advancing their own understanding of the global IP regime and for integrating IP into broader development studies courses they teach. Kenneth C. Shadlen, Progress in Development Studies This book considers whether the WTO agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) will become a vehicle for promoting greater international equity and engagement with the world economy or a tool for wealthy nations to extract excessive rents from poorer countries. Can TRIPS garner the necessary degree of legitimacy and public trust to deliver economic development? Can it become a key instrument for promoting international health and development? In response to these questions, the book proposes interpretive possibilities for the TRIPS text along with implementation strategies to avoid the threat of its irrelevancy due, amongst other things, to free trade agreements containing TRIPS-plus terms. The book discusses the impact of TRIPS from various perspectives, including those of developing countries. It will be of interest to informed citizens, members of NGOs and students and academics concerned with the debate about the impact of TRIPS on access to medicines at affordable prices, the protection of traditional knowledge, and the alleged neo-colonial effect of net revenue outflows from developing nations to developed nations for copyright and patent royalties.

Resource Book on TRIPS and Development

Resource Book on TRIPS and Development PDF Author: Unctad-ictsd
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781139444972
Category : Economic development
Languages : en
Pages : 829

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Book Description
NAture of obligations, principles and objectives; Substantive obligations; Intellectual property rights and competition; Enforcemente, maintenance and acquisition of rights; Interpretation and dispute settlement and prevention; Transitional and institutional arragements.

Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights PDF Author: Carlos Correa
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191017019
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
The TRIPS Agreement is the most comprehensive and influential international treaty on intellectual property rights. It brings intellectual property rules into the framework of the World Trade Organization, obliging all WTO Member States to meet minimum standards of intellectual property protection and enforcement. This has required massive changes in some national laws, particularly in developing countries. This volume provides a detailed legal analysis of the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, as well as elements to consider their economic implications in different legal and socio-economic contexts. This book provides an in depth analysis of the principles and of the substantive and enforcement provisions of the TRIPS Agreement, the most influential international treaty on intellectual property currently in force. It discusses the legal context in which the Agreement was negotiated, the objectives of their proponents and the nature of the obligations it created for the members of the World Trade Organization. In particular, it examines the minimum standards that must be implemented with regard to patents, trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications, copyright and related rights, integrated circuits, trade-secrets and test data for pharmaceutical and agrochemical products. Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights: A Commentary on the TRIPS Agreement elaborates on the interpretation of provisions contained in said Agreement, in the light of the customary principles for the interpretation of international law. The analysis -which is supported by a review of the relevant GATT and WTO jurisprudence- identifies the policy space left to such members to implement their obligations in accordance with their own legal systems and public policy objectives, including in respect of complex issues such as patentability criteria, compulsory licenses, exceptions and limitations to copyright, border measures, injunctive relief and the protection of test data under the discipline of unfair competition.

Left on Our Own

Left on Our Own PDF Author: Melissa Omino
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The cusp of the twentieth anniversary of the WTO Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health (hereafter "the Declaration") was marked by a global pandemic. The Declaration and its iteration in the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (hereafter "TRIPS") Article 31 bis, should have helped to contain the devastation in least developed and developing countries. The reality is that the pandemic is still ongoing, and the Global South led by South Africa and India are seeking a waiver of provisions to the TRIPS Agreement to ensure that COVID-19 therapeutics, diagnostics, and vaccines reach their citizens in order to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus ("the TRIPS waiver"). These citizens are especially vulnerable because of their inability to access vaccines due to their prices and supply shortages caused by the refusal to share manufacturing technology. The Doha Declaration aimed at reaffirming the interpretation and implementation of the TRIPS Agreement to support WTO members' right to protect public health and promote access to medicines. However, the operationalization of the Declaration via Article 31bis of TRIPS has been cumbersome and procedurally difficult to navigate. This paper argues that the current iteration of the Doha Declaration within TRIPS fails to meet the objectives of the Declaration as demonstrated by the need for a further waiver of the TRIPS agreement. It also attempts to "reimagine" Article 31 bis in light of the TRIPS waiver from the position of the Global South to make it more equitable and practicable and maintain the spirit of the Declaration.

Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation - Intersections between Public Health, Intellectual Property and Trade

Promoting Access to Medical Technologies and Innovation - Intersections between Public Health, Intellectual Property and Trade PDF Author: World Intellectual Property Organization
Publisher: WIPO
ISBN: 9280523082
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 259

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Book Description
This study has emerged from an ongoing program of trilateral cooperation between WHO, WTO and WIPO. It responds to an increasing demand, particularly in developing countries, for strengthened capacity for informed policy-making in areas of intersection between health, trade and IP, focusing on access to and innovation of medicines and other medical technologies.

Intellectual Property and International Trade: The TRIPS Agreement

Intellectual Property and International Trade: The TRIPS Agreement PDF Author: Carlos M. Correa
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9041166580
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 586

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Book Description
The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is the most far-reaching and comprehensive legal regime ever concluded at the multilateral level in the area of intellectual property rights (IPR). Compared to prior IPR conventions, TRIPS constitutes a major qualitative leap which radically modifies not only the context in which IPR are considered internationally, but also their substantive content and the methods for their enforcement and dispute settlement. This much-welcomed treatise, now in its third edition, thoroughly updates its comprehensive analysis of the substantive provisions of the Agreement and their actual interpretation and application in different jurisdictions, with new material on the burgeoning case law and on major changes in plant variety protection. As in previous editions, the book may be relied upon for in-depth clarification of such matters as the following: • standards established under the agreement; • enforcement measures; • social and legal issues; • legal and policy possibilities offered; • legislative latitude allowed to WTO Member States; • incorporation of TRIPS into domestic law; • protection of integrated circuit design; • protection of innovation and R&D for diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries; • challenges raised by ongoing technological changes; • access to medicines; • protection of confidential (undisclosed) information; and • interface between competition law and intellectual property protection. With fifteen chapters contributed by a distinguished panel of experts representing diverse parties — international organisations, legal practice, government policy, and academia — the third edition offers an incomparable framework for understanding the background, principles, and complex provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. Thoroughly revised and updated, the third edition will be of great value to all professionals and business people concerned with international trade. It stimulates further discussion and analysis in this area of growing importance to international law and international economic relations, particularly regarding the possibilities offered by the Agreement and the loose ends that may need consideration in the future at the national or international level.

Intellectual Property and Development

Intellectual Property and Development PDF Author: Keith E. Maskus
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821383485
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
International policies toward protecting intellectual property rights have seen profound changes over the past two decades. Rules on how to protect patents, copyright, trademarks and other forms of intellectual property have become a standard component of international trade agreements. Most significantly, during the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations (1986-94), members of what is today the World Trade Organization (WTO) concluded the Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which sets out minimum standards of protection that most of the world's economies have to respect. How will developing countries fare in this new international environment? Intellectual Property and Development brings together empirical research that assesses the effects of changing intellectual property regimes on various measures of economic and social performance - ranging from international trade, foreign investment and competition, to innovation and access to new technologies. The studies presented point to an important development dimension to the protection of intellectual property. But a one-size fits all approach to intellectual property is unlikely to work. There is need to adjust intellectual property norms to domestic needs, taking into account developing countries' capacity to innovate, technological needs, and institutional capabilities. In addition, governments need to consider a range of complementary policies to maximize the benefits and reduce the costs of reformed intellectual property regulations. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of international law, particularly in the area of intellectual property rights, international trade, and public policy.