WT/GC/W/845  
 
28 April 2022  
(22-3388) Page: 1/2 
General Council  Original: English  
 
INTEL LECTUAL PROPERTY, TRANSFER OF TECHNOLOGY  
AND CAPACITY BUILDING FOR COVID -19 AND BEYOND  
The following communication, dated 27 April 2022, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of Brazil.  
 
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1.1.  Born out of the necessity to promote strong multilateral cooperation towards tackling the 
COVID -19 pandemic and searching within the rules -based multilateral trading system instruments 
to support the response and recovery, discussions in the WTO have never lost sight of the need to 
build resilience and to better prepare for future pandemics. The perspective that solutions des igned 
within the WTO response to the pandemic framework could be used to speed up our response and 
increase the level of preparedness to other health emergencies has always been on the horizon of 
these discussions.  
1.2.  One of the lessons learned from the COVID -19 pandemic is that the inequity in access to health 
products, notably vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, and the uneven capacities among countries 
to prevent and respond to a health emergency are, in fact, a threat to all. Dealing with these 
inequit ies and imbalances in capacities will be tantamount to guaranteeing that the world as a whole 
will be safer and better prepared to face other health crises.  
1.3.  Alongside COVID -19, other health emergencies represent a heavy burden for the developing 
world and  inflict devastating health, social and economic consequences. Tuberculosis, malaria and 
HIV/AIDS are estimated to have caused more than 2.8 million deaths in 2020, mainly in developing 
countries. According to the WHO, neglected tropical diseases affect th e health and livelihood of more 
than 1.5 billion people globally.  
1.4.  Incentivizing medical R&D for diseases that disproportionately affect people in developing 
countries is a particular challenge. According to a 2015 analysis, it was found that poverty -related 
and neglected diseases represent 14 per cent of the global burden of disease but attract only 1.3  per 
cent of global R&D expenditure1. 
1.5.  The WTO trade and health workstream must not be indifferent to those issues. The scope of 
discussions in the WTO must  be broad in order to consider not only abstract future health threats, 
but also present endemic challenges and poverty -related diseases in the context of the developing 
world. When discussing our level of preparedness, we should not neglect the fact that solutions 
designed for enhancing our response to COVID -19 could be leveraged to respond to other health 
emergencies.  
1.6.  The transfer and dissemination of technology is a core objective of the multilateral trading 
system inscribed in the TRIPS agreement. The T RIPS Agreement recognizes, in its objectives and 
principles (Articles 7 and 8), that the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights 
should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination 
of tech nology. Let us not forget that the TRIPS Agreement also created a legal obligation for 
developed countries to provide incentives to enterprises and institutions in their territories to 
 
1 "Poverty -related and neglected diseases – an economic and epidemiological analysis of poverty 
relatedness and neglect in research and development " (Peter von Philipsborn et al, 2015).  WT/GC/W/845  
 
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  promote and encourage technology transfer to least -developed countries (LDCs) in order to enable 
them to create a sound and viable technological base.  
1.7.  The Decision of the General Council of 30 August 2003, on the Implementation of paragraph 6 
of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and public health, also recognizes the desirability 
of promoting the transfer of technology and capacity building in the pharmaceutical sector in order 
to overcome the insufficiency of manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector in developing 
countries. A Working Group was created under the auspices of the General Council, to examine the 
relationship between trade and transfer of technology, and any possible recommendations on steps 
that might be taken within the mandate of the WTO to increase flows of technology to deve loping 
countries.  
1.8.  Supporting the construction of sound scientific, technological and productive capacity in the 
health sector in the developing world is also in line with Sustainable Development Goals 3 ("Good 
Health and Well -Being") and 9 ("Industry, Inno vation and Infrastructure").  
1.9.  Transfer of technology and know -how are important tools to create capacities to combat 
COVID -19 and beyond. Transfer of technology initiatives designed for COVID -19 can and should be 
used to build capacities for other health e mergencies, particularly those that are endemic to 
developing countries and receive less attention from global R&D structures.  
1.10.   The use of TRIPS flexibilities, voluntary licensing arrangements and other solutions involving 
IPRs, such as waiving obligations of the TRIPS agreement, should come hand in hand with a political 
commitment to uphold initiatives to transfer technology and know -how to developing countries, with 
a view to fighting not only COVID -19 but also other health crises.  
1.11.   A balanced and comprehe nsive result on trade and health at the WTO must acknowledge and 
incorporate that perspective. Brazil is ready to work with Members on constructive solutions for that 
end. 
 
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