PRESS RELEASE
PRESS/329
20 December 2002
(02-7082)
GENERAL COUNCIL
Supachai disappointed over gove rnments’ failure to agree on
health and development issues
Director-General Supachai Panitchpakdi toda y (20 December 2002) expressed disappointment
over the failure by WTO member governments to meet the year-end deadlines for agreement in
negotiations on special and differential treatment for developing countries and access to essentialmedicines for poor countries lacking capacity to manufacture such drugs themselves.
“Failure to meet the deadlines in these negotiations has been quite disappointing. These two issues
are of great importance not only to developing countries but to the organization itself and to the
broader trade negotiations that are part of th e Doha Development Agenda,” Dr Supachai said.
“Nonetheless, delegates have informed me of their commitment to continue to work to find
agreement in these complex and difficult negotiations. I am hopeful a solution can be found in the
early part of 2003. I call on governments to summon the political will and commitment that will berequired to bridge their differences  on these two issues,” he added.
Ambassador Ransford Smith of Jamaica who chairs the Special Session of the Committee on Trade
and Development in which the issue of special and differential treatment was discussed, told the
WTO’s governing General Council that governments needed more time to finalize these
negotiations. General Council Chairman Sergio Marchi of Canada invited Amb. Smith to report backto the Council at its next meeting which is scheduled for 10–11 February 2003.
Ambassador Eduardo Pérez Motta of  Mexico who chairs the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) told the General Council that intensive consultations had not
resolved differences over the diseases that would be covered by the draft decision on intellectual
property and health.
He proposed that the TRIPS Council should restart its deliberations as soon as possible in the new
year with the aim of reaching an agreement by the first meeting of the General Council in 2003,scheduled for 10–11 February.
WTO members have been trying to meet a year -end deadline aimed at addressing a problem
posed by a provision of the WTO’s intellectual prop erty agreement (Article 31(f) of the Agreement
on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or TRIPS).PRESS/329
Page 2 of 2
This says that production under compulsory licensing must be predominantly for the domestic
market, which hinders countries lacking manufacturing capacity from importing cheaper genericsfrom countries where pharmaceuticals are patented.
Agreement on this would complete the mandate se t by the WTO Ministerial Conference in Doha,
Qatar, in November 2001, when a special minister ial declaration on TRIPS and Public Health was
issued.
For more information, go to the WTO website :
Work on special and differential treatment provisions
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/devel_e/dev_special_differential_provisions_e.htm
The Doha Declaration explained
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dda_e/dohaexplained_e.htm
The Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health
http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/mi nist_e/min01_e/mindecl_trips_e.htm
 TRIPS and pharmaceutical patents
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/trips_e/pharmpatent_e.htm
END