More criteria will now be taken into account when authorising, or not, the export of Covid-19 vaccines, according to the implementing regulation published by the European Commission on Wednesday 24 March. This amends the transparency mechanism for exports of Covid-19 vaccines to avoid doses going to non-Member States that already have enough vaccines, or that produce vaccines without exporting them to the EU.
“The EU is the only major OECD producer that continues to export vaccines at large scale to dozens of countries. But open roads should run in both directions”, said the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
The approval procedure remains unchanged: Member States must authorise, or not, the export of vaccines produced on their territory and obtain the Commission’s approval of their decision.
They can now base their choice on two additional principles. First, if the recipient country reciprocates trade, or restricts its exports of vaccines or components in any way. Secondly, Member States may analyse the appropriateness of exporting in light of the principle of proportionality, i.e. whether the conditions in the country of destination are better or worse than those in the EU in terms of the vaccination rate of the population, the epidemiological situation and access to vaccines.
No threshold is given for the vaccination rate to judge proportionality.
“All that needs to be assessed and with case by case analyses. We would not speculate if this is possible with a specific vaccination rate in a particular country. We need to see the bigger picture”, said a European diplomat.
While the Commission insists that the mechanism is not targeted at any particular country, the repeated information from the European Commission on the number of doses sent to the UK (10 million), while the EU receives no vaccines in return, echoes the demand for reciprocity (see EUROPE 12680/3).
End of exemption for certain countries
Seventeen non-Member States previously exempted from the mechanism are no longer exempt. These are more or less neighbouring states, including Switzerland, parts of the Western Balkans, Belarus and Israel. This means that exports of vaccines to these countries will now have to be authorised.
“We introduce security of supply. So, you need an extensive picture of what’s happening”, justified a European source. “If we take the example of Switzerland, which is very important in our supply chain, I see no reason why our relationship should be damaged”, the source added.
Discussions expected at the European Council on Thursday 25 March
The Heads of State or Government will discuss this mechanism at the European Council on 25–26 March (see EUROPE 12685/1).
“The consensus is that the EU should be an open place, there should be a fair share for the EU. We expect full support by Member States” on the revision of the mechanism, an EU source said.
Among the Member States, however, some wish to remain cautious. “This instrument should be a matter of last resort, not a tool to be wielded at every turn”, explained one EU diplomat. A second diplomat fears the disruption of supply chains. “I hope it is a stick that won’t be used, otherwise it turns into a lose-lose situation”, the diplomat said.
Some voices are already being raised against this revision, while the export authorisation mechanism has been criticised since its inception on the international scene and by some MEPs.
“The EU imports 70% of its vaccine ingredients from other vaccine producing countries. [...] Have we really thought this trade war through?”, asked Kathleen Van Brempt (S&D, Belgium). (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)