The Proposal of India and South Africa for a TRIPS Waiver

Situations like the COVID-19 outbreak require international solidarity and broader multilateral collaboration. Pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturing corporations are inclined to continue their business-as-usual approach to intellectual property (IP) protection even during a pandemic. The routine application of IP protections restricts diversified global production and universal distribution of critically needed health technologies. IP protections bar national governments, especially in resource-poor countries, from adopting a comprehensive strategy to have timely, adequate, and affordable access to COVID-related health technologies as they can be subjected to court litigation and complaints under the WTO rules. In October 2020, India and South Africa submitted to the WTO TRIPS Council a proposal for a temporary waiver of certain provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. This paper provides an overview of the waiver proposal and analyses the evolution of the push for this proposal in light of formal and informal discussions at the WTO