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Developing World Victorious at WTO Conference |
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Activists applaud the recent declaration of the World Trade Organization on patents because it allows poor countries to obtain pharmaceuticals at lower cost and recognizes the right of governments to protect the health of their citizens.
DOHA - The Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) decided in the Qatar capital that international rules on intellectual property rights do not and shall not prevent governments from adopting measures to protect public health.
The chapter of the WTO declaration on pharmaceutical patents, requested by a bloc of African countries and backed by Brazil and India, was preceded by an international political debate promoted by civil society groups.
One of the organizations spearheading the global campaign for access to low-cost medications, Oxfam International, sees the WTO declaration as a political victory for developing countries. "Though we would have liked to see stronger wording, the declaration does have a clear political statement that public health concerns must override commercial interests," commented Michael Bailey, Oxfam's senior policy adviser.
The more than 140 trade ministers gathered in Doha Nov 9-14 negotiated a declaration that clears up the controversy about the flexibility that the WTO agreement on medical patents grants government health authorities.
The rules that came under debate form part of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
The TRIPS accord allows countries to utilize mechanisms such as compulsory licensing and parallel imports in the case of a national health emergency or other urgent circumstances as a means to ensure access to necessary medications, like those used to fight AIDS, tuberculosis or malaria.
Nevertheless, some governments have hesitated in applying the mechanisms for fear that the countries that are home to the big pharmaceutical corporations will take legal action through the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body.
Compulsory licensing gives the government the right to grant authorization to copy the formulas of medications needed during a public health crisis.
The rules on parallel imports allow a country to purchase pharmaceuticals from a third party country – which may sell the medications at a lower price - without first seeking the patent-holder’s permission.
The ministers decreed that the TRIPS accord will be "interpreted and applied in a manner supportive of WTO members' right to protect public health and to ensure access to medicines for all."
A coalition of non-governmental organizations specializing in health rights interprets the declaration of the WTO member nations as recognition of governments' rights to take the decisions necessary for protecting public health.
Countries can guarantee health services for their populations without fear of becoming embroiled in an international legal dispute on patents, commented Ellen t' Hoen, a representative of Doctors Without Borders (Médicins Sans Frontières - MSF). However, some WTO member nations that are unable to produce their own medicines will still have a hard time implementing the compulsory licensing mechanism outlined by TRIPS.
The TRIPS Council, a permanent body of the WTO based in Geneva, is to take seek a solution to that problem and will report to the General Council before the end of 2002.
Transnational pharmaceutical companies consider compulsory licensing a threat to public health because it cuts into their profits, leaving them with less funding for research, which, they say, will ultimately mean fewer drug options for medical emergencies arising in the future.
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