New Delhi, Aug 31: In a deal described as “historic” by the WTO director general, Supachai Panitchpakdi, all members of the trade body on Saturday agreed on a mechanism to kick off Paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and public health. What this means is that poor countries will have access to cheap drugs to fight killer diseases. The deal was struck after all countries including India agreed to a two-point procedure on the issue of compulsory licensing by poor countries for accessing generic drugs at cheaper prices to fight killer diseases that become public health concerns. The resolution of the long-standing dispute came after developing countries, including India, decided to back it, a WTO spokesman said.

The issue that has remained contentious for long, has now been resolved, with the highest executive of the trade body, the General Council, ratifying an agreement reached by the US and a group of developing countries including India.

The original deadline for the TRIPS council to suggest the mechanism to the General Council was December 31, 2002.
The current decision allows for exercising the Para 6 option under the TRIPS council’s monitoring, with notification of safeguards and anti-diversion measures. The decision also allows countries producing generic copies of patented drugs to export them to the “eligible importing countries” until the WTO’s intellectual property rights agreement is amended.
Such exports would be allowed under the existing provisions of Article 31 (F) of the TRIPS agreement. The agreement provides for restricting even the quantity of production by an exporting country to meet the notified requirement of the importing country, and makes it incumbent upon the exporting country to pay “adequate remuneration” to the patent holder as per Article 31 (H) of TRIPS. Bureau Report