India likely to oppose EU’s vaccine proposal at WTO

India is likely to oppose a proposal made by the European Union that backs use of existing flexibilities at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to fight the Covid-19 pandemic instead of a special waiver.

The suggestion, which is a counter to an India-South Africa joint proposal seeking waivers on certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) Agreement, comes ahead of a crucial meeting of the Trips Council on June 8-9.

The EU has proposed that export restrictions be kept to a minimum and suggested members make use of compulsory licences for vaccines wherein countries would be allowed to grant licences to manufacturers even without the consent of the patent-holder though they would still receive compensation. The 27-country bloc wants vaccine developers to sign deals with producers in developing countries and pledge higher supplies.


“Such submissions will only delay the discussions on the Trips waiver proposal. The waiver proposal was floated because the extant Trips flexibilities don’t work in the current context of the pandemic,” said an official.

Last month, India and South Africa had submitted a revised proposal on waivers on Covid-19-related medical products for three years with a provision to review the duration annually to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. It was discussed informally at the Trips Council on May 31 but the positions of various WTO members would be defined in the upcoming meeting.

The EU has opposed the Trips waiver proposal, floated last October, and now has the support of over 130 countries including the US and China. In the counter-proposal, the EU said the role of intellectual property is not limited to incentivising the development of vaccines and treatments. “Intellectual property should also play an important role in enabling equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics,” it said.

Referring to the Doha Declaration, it said that members have the right to grant compulsory licences, the freedom to determine the grounds upon which such licences are granted and the right to determine what constitutes a national emergency or other circumstances of extreme urgency, which includes public health crises.

“The EU is also ready to engage on other points regarding the facilitation of the use of compulsory licensing as provided for in the Trips Agreement,” it said, adding that the exporting countries can issue a single notification with a list of all countries to which vaccines and therapeutics are to be supplied directly or through the COVAX Facility. This, it said, is important for “transparency purposes”.

Experts said the proposal is a diversionary tactic by the EU as it has nothing new to offer. “What the EU has proposed is essentially trade liberalisation through the backdoor and only a waiver in the notification requirements,” said a Delhi-based expert on IP issues.

As per the expert, compulsory licences are used in the context of patents only and don’t cover other issues such as trade secrets, copyright and industrial designs — something that the waiver proposal does. “Compulsory licence will not work in this context as clinical trials would need to be done if the procedures or trade secrets laid down by the originator of the vaccine are not followed. It is not a capability issue but a regulatory one,” explained IP expert KM Gopakumar.