A resolution co-signed by the EU and supported by more than 100 states, to be presented for adoption on Tuesday 19 May at the 73rd World Health Assembly, calls for an independent and impartial inquiry into the global management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) is thus requested to launch “at the earliest appropriate moment, and in consultation with Member States a stepwise process of impartial, independent and comprehensive evaluation, including using existing mechanisms” [...] “to review experience gained and lessons learned from the WHO-coordinated international health response to Covid-19”, the resolution says.
The text also calls, “in the spirit of unity and solidarity”, for intensified cooperation and collaboration at all levels to “contain, control and mitigate” the pandemic, recalling the leading role of WHO and the fundamental role of the United Nations in mobilising and coordinating the “global response”.
International organisations and stakeholders are also called upon to collaborate at all levels to develop, test and produce “safe, effective, quality and affordable” diagnostics, treatments, medicines and vaccines for the Covid-19 response on a large scale. This should include the use of existing mechanisms for voluntary patent pooling and voluntary patent licensing to facilitate rapid, equitable and affordable access to these products, according to the resolution.
The WTO in search of solutions
In parallel, at a meeting of the General Council of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) on 15 May in Geneva, many of the poorest countries facing the health crisis urged States to use the flexibilities allowed by WTO rules, including the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), to facilitate their access to vaccines and other treatments.
Since 2003, in the event of a health crisis, TRIPS allows states to produce a drug without the consent of a foreign patent holder (‘compulsory licensing’), according to the WTO report.
At the same meeting, the EU is reported to have raised its idea of launching negotiations for the zero-rating of products needed to combat Covid-19, a proposal put forward by both the European Parliament and Trade Ministers (see EUROPE 12471/7, 12468/15).
See the draft resolution submitted to WHO: https://bit.ly/2ZenpE5 (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Hermine Donceel)