Digest Content
- Bolivia outlines vaccine import needs in use of WTO flexibilities to tackle pandemic
- Participants in services domestic regulation talks share national practices
- Fishing subsidies negotiations chair introduces new text in run-up to July ministerial
Bolivia outlines vaccine import needs in use of WTO flexibilities to tackle pandemic
The government of Bolivia has formally notified the WTO of the country’s need to import COVID-19 vaccines, taking another step towards using flexibilities in WTO intellectual property rules as part of its pandemic response.
Bolivia notified the WTO it needed to import 15 million doses of a vaccine under the legal system introduced in a 2017 amendment to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). That amendment, which created Article 31bis of the TRIPS Agreement, provides an additional legal pathway for import-reliant countries to access affordable medicines, vaccines and other pharmaceutical products.
Bolivia’s notification opens up the possibility of importing the needed vaccines from any one of around 50 WTO members that have put in place domestic laws providing for the production and export of medicines made under compulsory licence through this system.
“This is an example of a WTO member seeking to make use of available tools under the TRIPS Agreement to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, even as members seek to expand the range of options through the TRIPS waiver proposal,” said Antony Taubman, Director of the WTO’s Intellectual Property Division. “This step provides one practical component of what could be a wider process of countries signalling urgent and unmet needs and encouraging a combined, coordinated response by international partners.”
The WTO Secretariat has been encouraged by members in the TRIPS Council to provide any necessary technical assistance to facilitate use of the system to import pharmaceutical products manufactured under compulsory licence.
Participants in services domestic regulation talks share national practices
WTO members participating in the negotiations on services domestic regulation shared how they are implementing disciplines at the national level when they met virtually on 10 May. The objective of the talks is to increase transparency and predictability of authorization procedures to reduce the costs of doing business and facilitate international services trade.
Participants in the negotiations – accounting for over 70 per cent of world services trade – are close to agreeing on a set of disciplines concerning licensing and qualification requirements and procedures as well as technical standards for services. The negotiating text contains flexibilities to help governments in implementing the measures domestically while remaining free to pursue their national policy objectives.
The aim is to achieve an outcome on services domestic regulation by the Twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12), scheduled to take place from 30 November to 3 December in Geneva. The coordinator, Jaime Coghi of Costa Rica, encouraged all delegations to “move from optimistic messaging to concrete action now and well in advance of the Summer break”. The group currently comprises 63 WTO members – both developing and developed countries.
Canada presented its standardized system for processing applications for regulatory approvals overseen by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI). Features include the public availability of all requirements and procedures, including guidelines and instructions developed in consultation with industry. The application process is also facilitated by continued communication between the OSFI and applicants.
Japan noted that its procedures for developing technical standards are open for public comment to increase transparency and predictability and protect stakeholders’ rights and interests, as foreseen in the disciplines developed in the context of the negotiations. In addition, authorization requirements are published on relevant websites, and standard times for processing applications are announced in advance for increased predictability.
The European Union presented the similarities between the disciplines under discussion and the EU services directive, which aims to ensure that authorization schemes are not used as unjustifiable barriers to services trade. The latter accounts for 70 per cent of the EU’s gross domestic product and employment. Authorization procedures of EU member states are required to be clear and transparent, and applied in an objective and impartial manner to ensure that service operators are treated fairly. Services trade has increased within the EU as a result of the simplification and streamlining of procedures, benefitting both services exporters and domestic suppliers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.
The implementation experiences of Australia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and the United States were shared at a virtual meeting on 10 April.
The chair and participants provided updates on planned and recent outreach activities. The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States highlighted a webinar it will co-host with Canada and the International Chamber of Commerce on 26 May for Eastern Caribbean countries and other interested WTO members. The objective is to raise awareness of the ongoing domestic regulation talks and underline the importance of implementing domestic regulatory disciplines for improving competitiveness and export performance. The event will also provide an opportunity to inform senior trade officials about this important issue for MC12.
Reporting on his participation in a webinar held on 6 May on services domestic regulation, the chair said that businesses in Asia consider the objective of increasing the transparency and predictability of services markets to be of utmost importance. The event was co-hosted by the Institute for International Trade of the University of Adelaide, the Australian Services Roundtable, the European Services Forum and the Asia Pacific Services Coalition.
The next meeting is scheduled for 10 June.
Fishing subsidies negotiations chair introduces new text in run-up to July ministerial
The chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, introduced on 11 May a new draft text aimed at bringing members closer to agreement ahead of the 15 July meeting of ministers. The text is based on members’ collective work and proposes landing zones to curb harmful fisheries subsidies and ensure the sustainability of the world’s oceans.
According to his statement the aim of the new draft text is to serve as the basis for work toward a clean text to present to a meeting of ministers on 15 July. The shared sense of urgency is palpable, and we need to harness that sense to finally agree to the compromise landing zones that will represent the ambitious and balanced outcome that ministers in Buenos Aires mandated us to find, to make a substantial and tangible contribution to the health of our shared oceans.
Under the mandate from the WTO’s 11th Ministerial Conference held in Buenos Aires in 2017 and the UN Sustainable Development Goal Target 14.6, negotiators have been given the task of securing agreement on disciplines to eliminate subsidies for illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and to prohibit certain forms of fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing, with special and differential treatment being an integral part of the negotiations.
The chair noted that the draft reflects language from WTO members, whether reflected in proposals, or a facilitator’s work, or expressed during meetings and consultations. The whole text is up for discussion and it will ultimately be up to members to resolve the issues that remain open, he said.
Members will have the opportunity next week to identify key issues they find the most difficult to agree on and then will convene in weekly meetings starting 24 May. Each week will be dedicated to a specific issue in the text.
The chair said he knows it will not be easy. Nothing is easy when 164 members need to reach consensus, but it is doable. The good thing is that we have a complete text in front of us on which we can engage. Now it’s time to sprint for the finish line.
The new draft text is available by the link:
https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/SS/directdoc.aspx?filename=q:/TN/RL/W276.pdf&Open=True
The chair’s full statement is available by the link:
https://docs.wto.org/dol2fe/Pages/SS/directdoc.aspx?filename=q:/TN/RL/W276A1.pdf&Open=True