WT/MIN(24)/W/21  
 
29 February 2024  
(24-1918) Page: 1/2 
Ministerial Conference  
Thirteenth Session  
Abu Dhabi, 26 -29 February 2024  Original: English  
 
  
SUBMISSION BY TRIPS WAIVER CO -SPONSORS  AT  
THE THIRTEENTH WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE  
COMMUNICATION FROM  SOUTH AFRICA  
The following communication, dated 29 February 2024, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of South Africa on behalf of the 65 Co -Sponsors of the IP/C/W/669/Rev.1  proposal and 
Brazil; Colombia ; Paraguay and Sri Lanka.   
 
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1.1.  The most solemn obligation of e very government is to protect the life and health of its people.  
1.2.  The Director General of the World Health Organization ( WHO) declared the  COVID -19 situation 
a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020. The need for 
scaled -up access to diagnostics, treatments, vaccines and personal protective equipment (PPE) 
("health products") was manifest.  
1.3.  The co -sponsors approached Members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) with a proposal  
to temporarily waive certain provisions of the Agreement on Trade -Related Aspects of Intellectual 
Property Rights (TRIPS) to support the global COVID -19 pandemic response. This was in recognition 
that the intellectual property system is meant to provide a  balance between providing incentives for 
bringing about innovation and rewarding creativity and promoting the broader public interest. In the 
area of public health, intellectual property objectives must also be balanced against realising the 
right to heal th, of which access to medicines and other health products is a central part. It was also 
in recognition that allowing legal monopolies may delay access to the requisite health products 
becoming available, as evidenced by disputes on infringement of intell ectual property rights even at 
the height of the pandemic and that health products would be in global short supply drawing from 
the experience of previous pandemics and health emergencies. The co -sponsors believed that 
pooling financial and scientific reso urces is the only option for accelerating progress towards new 
vaccines, treatments and diagnostics.  
1.4.  Developing countries including the LDCs were gravely concerned. Much of the latest technology 
used to develop and manufacture necessary health products wa s owned and controlled by 
companies, governments and other institutions based in developed countries. Without access to this 
technology, the prospects for manufacturing and distributing health products would be restricted. 
Access to health products would b e at the discretion of pharmaceutical companies from a handful of 
high-income countries.  
1.5.  The COVID -19 pandemic offered WTO Members an opportunity to act in solidarity by adopting 
a multilateral solution to help bolster the capability of developing countri es to respond to a health 
crisis. Co -sponsors advocated for a multilateral solution so as to restore faith in multilateralism and 
avoid Members adopting self -help measures, thereby fragmenting the intellectual property system. 
An undesirable outcome that a  time-bound and limited waiver could have helped prevent.  
1.6.  The WTO failed to deliver a comprehensive  multilateral solution on the pandemic and even 
when it delivered on COVID -19 vaccines, this was too little too late. Rather than heed the call of the 
co-sponsors, non-proponents  advocated for voluntary arrangements and donations as the only WT/MIN(24)/W/21  
 
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  solution to equitable distribution. In reality, however, an inconsequentially small number of voluntary 
licenses were availed with strict conditionalities that did not as sist to respond to the global crisis. 
And there were no voluntary licenses or any licensing arrangements when it came to the most -used 
vaccines in developed countries.  
1.7.  The COVID -19 virus is still with us, and the world needs therapeutics and diagnostics to ensure 
better management of its impact. If WTO Members were serious about providing an effective solution 
in the context of global solidarity, they needed to extend the TRIPS decision to diagnostics and 
therapeutics within six months as promised. However, over a year after the deadline, the non-
proponents  have stalled any possible outcome, ensuring that the world remains vulnerable not only 
to this pandemic but future pandemics. Resilience for future pand emics can be achieved  through 
resolving challenges of equitable and affordable access to health products by addressing 
concentration of production, and building adequate manufacturing capacity, especially in regions 
with limited production.  
1.8.  Failure to  deliver on a multilateral outcome to effectively address concerns on equitable and 
affordable access to health products including therapeutics and diagnostics , cast s a dim light on the 
ability of the WTO to act in solidarity during an international emergency a s recognized by the WHO. 
The IP barriers that challenge equitable and affordable access have prolonged this pandemic and 
remain unaddressed , threatening us in the next pandemic. The co -sponsors remain committed to 
addressing the se concerns of developing co untries including  the LDCs in the context of health 
emergencies such as pandemics by advancing policy space for Members, along with full utilization 
of existing flexibilities in the TRIPS Agreement  including Article 73 . 
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