TRIPS standoff continues in the new year

A new year did nothing to ease the global standoff within the World Trade Organization over the waiver of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, or TRIPS. European opposition to the bid to temporarily waive intellectual property on COVID-related vaccines, treatments, and products has stalled the proposal, which was first tabled by the Indian and South African delegations to the WTO in late 2020.

European officials continue to parry initiatives from waiver proponents designed to push the proposal forward. That includes the Indian delegation’s request at the end of 2021 for a virtual ministerial meeting to discuss the WTO’s pandemic response, including the TRIPS waiver.

European Union officials, in a statement Monday, said it was “premature” to discuss India’s latest proposal until members had reached a consensus on the intellectual property issues. EU officials also said COVID-related issues should not be accelerated ahead of the rest of the WTO’s agenda, after November’s ministerial conference was indefinitely postponed because of COVID.

On the same day, Thierry Breton, the European Commission for the Internal Market, said during a Politico Live interview that the focus should remain on vaccine sharing initiatives, such as COVAX, while the global south ramped up vaccine manufacturing capacity.

Waiver proponents accused Breton and the EU’s WTO delegation of engaging in the same foot-dragging as last year, pointing to research that has indicated there are already facilities in Africa and elsewhere positioned to begin production of messenger RNA vaccines.