The European Parliament supports negotiations leading to “a temporary waiver” from the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement “to enhance global access to affordable Covid-19-related medical products and to address global production constraints and supply shortages”, in a non-binding resolution it adopted on Thursday 10 June (355 votes in favour, 263 against, 71 abstentions).
This specific amendment by the Greens/EFA Group was adopted by one vote (325 votes in favour, 324 against, 44 abstentions), to the surprise of many observers. “I didn’t think it would pass and I expected the final resolution to be rejected”, commented a parliamentary source.
The amendment was supported by the S&D, Greens/EFA and The Left Groups as well as the French delegation of the Renew Europe Group and the Polish delegation of the ECR Group. “Intellectual property cannot be a barrier to Covid-19 vaccine production”, said Chrysoula Zacharopoulou (Renew Europe, French).
The EPP, Renew Europe and Identity and Democracy (ID) groups rejected it by a majority, while the Italian ID delegation abstained. Internal debates within the Renew Europe Group on the issue were “very long, intense and divisive”, said another informed source.
“In order to vaccinate as many people as possible worldwide, we need to give them the means to produce their vaccines. And that means supporting the demand for a temporary lifting of intellectual property rights at WTO level, which the Greens/EFA Group has succeeded in obtaining from Parliament”, said Belgium MEP Sara Matthieu in a statement.
At the end of May, Parliament had already voted in favour of lifting patents on Covid-19 vaccines in a resolution on the fight against AIDS.
Ongoing discussions at the WTO
At a meeting of the TRIPS Committee at the World Trade Organization, held in Geneva on 8-9 June, the member countries of the international organisation agreed to discuss written proposals from some countries, including the Indian and South African proposal to lift patents on anti-Covid-19 medical products. A progress report on the negotiations is to be presented to the WTO General Council on 21-22 July.
At the outset of this meeting, the European Commission did not follow this route of lifting patents, recommending instead that all TRIPS flexibilities be used to facilitate access to these products for low and middle income countries (see EUROPE 12734/1). According to the Commission, a State can already grant compulsory licences allowing a company to produce medical products without the consent of the intellectual property rights holder.
Noting the Parliament resolution, the Commission says it is “open to discuss any option that can facilitate the expansion of production and equitable access of vaccines”, but “we’re not convinced that a waiver is the best and immediate response” and favours “a third way on an universal response to the challenge”, said Trade spokeswoman Miriam Garcia Ferrer.
Asked about the issue on Thursday, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, was also sceptical. The idea of lifting patents “might sound good, but it’s no silver bullet”, he said. “The TRIPS agreement already offers flexibility and we want to focus on concrete proposals, such as promoting voluntary licences and knowledge transfers and patent-pooling on mutually agreed terms”, he argued.
The issue will be raised at the G7 summit session on the pandemic later this week.
Parliament’s resolution also calls for the deployment of voluntary licensing agreements between a vaccine developer and a manufacturer as well as the transfer of know-how and technology to countries with production capacity, particularly in Africa.
MEPs also call for the rapid removal of barriers to the export of vaccines and raw materials, a request made in particular to the US and the UK. The EU often argues that it exports half of its production, despite the introduction of an export licensing mechanism in early 2021.
“At present, only about 10% of the EU’s global exports have been sent to the least developed countries”, Ms Matthieu said, noting that less than 6% of the world’s population has been vaccinated, while 70% of the European population is expected to be vaccinated in July.
Finally, Parliament underlines the importance of contributing to the Covax Global Vaccine Facility, the EU being the largest contributor to this initiative. On Thursday, US President Joe Biden, on a trip to the UK, was expected to announce the purchase of 500 million doses of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines for donation to countries in need.
See Parliament’s resolution: https://bit.ly/3pIAPUi (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)