Members of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) met informally on Tuesday 6 July, following small group consultations the previous day.
While South Africa reported progress after these consultations, the EU did not share this view, according to a Geneva source.
For the EU delegation, there is no convergence of positions on the issue of patent exemption for Covid-19 vaccines, contrary to South Africa’s assertion. “We think the discussions actually confirm the great concern of a number of delegations with regards to the waiver proposal”, the EU indicated, stressing the need to be clear about the current state of discussions.
It considers that the main problem remains the same: how would lifting patents improve access to vaccines and medicines to combat Covid-19?
Discussions are now expected to focus on technology transfer, which is a point of convergence, according to the EU. In this respect, “the waiver proposal does not create the conditions for technology transfer - actually it works against it”, said the EU delegation.
The chair of the TRIPS Council, Dagfinn Sørli (Norway), wants to hold consultations, again in small groups, on 9 July to tackle the issue of implementing the various proposals. The members will then meet again on 14 July, informally, to report on progress. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)