JOB/GC/251  
 
18 February 2021  
(21-1394) Page: 1/3 
General Council  Original: English  
 
COVID -19 AND BEYOND: TRADE AND HEALTH  
COMMUNICATION FROM AUSTRALIA, BRAZIL, CANADA, CHILE, THE EUROPEAN UNION,  
JAPAN, KENYA, REPUBLIC OF KOREA, MEXICO, NEW ZEALAND, NORWAY,  
SINGAPORE AND SWITZERLAND  
The following communication, dated 18 February 2021 , is being circulated at the request of the 
delegations of Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the European Union, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, 
Mexico, New  Zealand, Norway, Singapore and Switzerland.  
 
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DRAFT GENERAL COUNCIL DECLARATION  
TRADE AND HEALTH: COVID -19 AND BEYOND  
The General Council,  
 
Recognizing  that increased cooperation among WTO Members in international trade policy can 
contribute to a successful fight against COVID -19 and any  future pandemic,  
 
Recognizing that ensuring access to essential medical goods during a pandemic requires resilient 
and robust supply chains that function in a stable and predictable trading environment,  
 
Declares that:  
 
We, WTO Members , intend to take the following actions to respond to the current COVID -19 related 
challenges in international trade.  These actions are intended to facilitate trade in essential medical 
goods in these critical times and enhance the capacity of the trading system to deal wit h a public 
health emergency. These proposed actions are not intended to be prescriptive and do not cover the 
whole universe of possible measures that could support trade in essential medical goods. Rather, 
they reflect emerging best practices and should pr ovide sufficient flexibility to be adapted to differing 
national circumstances. They could pave the way for new WTO commitments in the future.  
 
1. EXPORT RESTRICTIONS  
We will:  
 
- review and promptly eliminate unnecessary existing restrictions on exports of ess ential 
medical goods necessary to combat the COVID -19 pandemic;1 and 
 
 
1 Members are free to decide what constitutes an essential medical good based on national circumstances. 
It is understood, however, that such essential goods would include pharmaceutical products, medical devices as 
well as any other products required by th e medical sector to fight the COVID -19 pandemic. In particular, M embers 
should take into consideration the indicative list of COVID -19 related goods, established by the WCO and WHO . 
See the 3rd edition of the list available at: http://www.wcoomd.org/ -
/media/wco/public/global/pdf/topics/nomenclature/covid_19/hs -classification -reference_edition -
3_en.pdf?la=en . JOB/GC/251  
 
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  - exercise restraint in the imposition of any new export restrictions, including export taxes, 
on essential medical goods and on any prospective vaccine or vaccine materials.  
 
In doing s o, we will:  
 
- ensure that any measures deemed necessary to prevent or relieve critical shortages are 
implemented in a manner that is targeted, transparent, proportionate and temporary, and 
consistent with WTO obligations;  
 
- give particular consideration to the interest of the least developed and developing countries, 
many of which have scarce manufacturing capacities and are highly dependent on imports, 
in order to avoid a negative impact of such measures on their access to essential medical 
goods; and,  
 
- ensure that any trade measures, including export restrictions, do not disrupt the provision 
of humanitarian shipments of essential medical goods, nor the work of the COVAX facility in 
distributing vaccines.  
 
Any export restrictions should be promptly notified  to the WTO and published on a domestic website. 
The notification should include justification of the measures and an explanation of how the measure 
is consistent with the WTO agreements and why it was considered targeted and proportionate to the 
objective  pursued. Equally, if following the review referred to above, it is decided to continue to 
maintain export restrictions, upon request, justification for the continuation of the measures and an 
explanation as above will be provided.  
 
The period of validity of such measures should be as limited as possible and ideally, it should not 
exceed 3 months, subject to a possible extension.  In any event, the duration of export restrictions 
should not exceed the duration of the state of public health emergency . 
 
The above actions would help ensure equitable distribution of scarce essential medical goods and 
vaccines amongst WTO Members, in particular the most vulnerable ones.  
 
2. CUSTOMS, SERVICES AND TECHNICAL REGULATIONS  
We will:  
 
- share experiences as regards the trade facilitating measures that have been put in place in 
response to the COVID -19 crisis with a view to establishing best practices in the context of 
a crisis. We will consider to what extent they can be made permanent. S uch measures may 
include digital customs procedures, and services such as freight, logistics, distribution and 
transport, which have proven an effective tool in facilitating the frictionless movement of 
essential medical goods across borders.  
 
- cooperate i n the exchange and implementation of best practices in the area of standards 
and technical requirements and, through collaboration within relevant international 
organi zations, work towards enhanced regulatory alignment with the aim of facilitating trade 
and reducing adaptation costs for manufacturers of essential medical goods.  
 
To this end, we will fully engage in the work of the relevant WTO bodies, including the Trade 
Facilitation and Technical Barriers to Trade Committees as well as the Council for Trad e in Goods 
and Council for Trade in Services.  
 
3. TARIFFS  
We will make best endeavours to temporarily remove or reduce tariffs on goods that are considered 
essential to fighting COVID -19 pandemic, as far as possible, taking into account national 
circumstances . We may choose the method of implementation of such a temporary tariff removal or 
reduction, which could take the form of emergency duty relief programs. The indicative list of COVID -
19 related goods, established by the World Customs Organi zation and Worl d Health Organi zation2 
could be helpful in the determination of the product scope.  
 
2 See footnote 1 . JOB/GC/251  
 
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4. TRANSPARENCY AND REVIEW  
We will respond swiftly to requests for information on trade measures adopted during the present 
health crisis, including on measures undertaken t o implement this initiative, from any other 
Members.  
 
We will engage fully with the trade monitoring exercises done on a regular or an ad hoc  basis in the 
WTO, including the bi -annual Trade Monitoring Report, and pay particular attention to complying 
with all WTO notification requirements during the Covid -19 crisis. The monitoring and notification of 
measures should allow for a quick identification of disruptions in the supply chains and allow 
Members to enter into consultations with a view to avoiding such  disruptions in the shortest possible 
timelines.  
 
The WTO Secretariat shall make a summary report on the actions implemented by Members under 
the Initiative which should be made available by the date of the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference.  
We will provide any requested information or clarification to the WTO Secretariat for the purpose of 
the preparation of such a report.  
 
5. COOPERATION OF THE WTO WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS  
We commend the work of the WTO Secretariat resulting in an extensive database of measure s 
related to COVID -19 and a range of dedicated studies and reports allowing them to have a 
comprehensive and accessible overview of the situation.  The WTO Secretariat is encouraged to 
continue that work, focusing on the causes and effects of the disruption s in the supply chains of 
essential goods and drawing on research of other international organizations.  
 
Given the need to enhance pandemic preparedness and respond to current and future pandemics, 
the WTO Director -General is strongly encouraged to intensify cooperation with other relevant 
international organizations such as the World Health Organi zation, the World Customs Organi zation, 
the World Intellectual Property Organi zation, the Organi zation for Economic Coope ration and 
Development, the United Nations  as well as the G20 with the aim of improving the analytical capacity 
of WTO Members to monitor market developments in trade and production of essential medical 
goods. This would enhance WTO Members ' preparedness f or a health crisis and contribute to the 
creation of an early warning mechanism in the event of critical shortages of essential medical goods.  
 
6. CONSIDERATIONS FOR THE 12TH WTO MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE  
At the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, we will take stock of the effectiveness of the above actions 
with the view to adopting possible commitments regarding trade in essential medical goods.  
 
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