RESTRICTED  
  
IP/C/M/97  
 
24 February  2021 
(21-1546) Page: 1/4 
Council for Trade -Related Aspects of  
Intellectual Property Rights   
 
 
MINUTES OF MEETING  
HELD IN THE CENTRE WILLIAM RAPPARD ON 23 FEBRUARY 2021 
Chair: H.E. Ambassador Xolelwa Mlumbi -Peter 
The present document contains the record of the meeting of the Council for TRIPS held on 
23 February 2021. The statements made during the meeting will be circulated in an addendum to 
the present document.  
Table of Contents  
1    PROPOSAL FOR A WAIVER FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE TRIPS 
AGREEMENT FOR THE PREVENTION, CONTAINMENT AND TREATMENT OF 
COVID -19 ................................ ................................ ................................ ..................  2 
2   OTHER BUSINESS  ................................ ................................ ................................ ........  4 
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  1  PROPOSAL FOR A WAIVER FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT FOR 
THE PREVENTION, CONTAINMENT AND TREATMENT OF COVID -19 
1.   The Chair  said that the "Proposal for A Waiver from Certain Provisions of The TRIPS Agreement 
for the Prevention, Containment and Treatment of Covid -19" had been circulated in document 
IP/C/W/669 by India and South Africa on 2 October 2020 and had since been co -sponsored by the 
delegations of Kenya, Eswatini, Mozambique, Pakistan, Bolivia , Venezuela, Mongolia, Zimbabwe, 
Egypt and – most recently – the African Group and the LDC Group . 
2.  At the Council's last formal meeting on 10 December 2020, the Council had agreed to provide a 
'Status Report on the consideration by the TRIPS Council of the waiver proposal' to the General 
Council meeting of 16 -17 December  2020. That Status Report provided  a factual overview of the 
waiver discussions in this Council and highlighted Members' common goal of providing access to 
high-quality, safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines and medicines for all. It reported that Members 
had exchanged views, had provi ded information and sought clarifications, but had not been able to 
reach consensus. It concluded that,    
"[T]herefore, the TRIPS Council will continue its consideration of the waiver 
request and report back to the General Council as stipulated in Article  IX:3 
of the Marrakesh Agreement."  
3.  Since then, the Council  had continued its consideration of the waiver request at informal open -
ended meetings on 19 January and 4 February 2021, including on the basis of three new submissions 
circulated by the co -sponsor s on 15 January 2021, and which bear the document numbers 
IP/C/W/672, IP/C/W/ 673 and IP/C/W/ 674.  
4.  She said that, a fter the informal open -ended meeting on 19 January , she had held consultations 
with a number of delegations on 27 January 2021 to encourage mo re solution -oriented discussions 
and to explore in concrete terms whether a possible landing zone could exist – in terms of concrete 
elements and outcomes – and to hear views on our report to the General Council.  In preparation of 
that meeting, she had  requested delegations consider three questions, namely  (1) which elements 
of the Waiver were critical to deliver a multilateral solution on the common objective of ensuring 
swift, timely, affordable and equitable access to the vaccines and therapeutics to com bat the 
COVID -19 pandemic , (2) whether the discussion had provided clarifications about core elements of 
the TRIPS Agreement in relation to public health  and h ow these can be captured to establish a 
common understanding ; and (3) what were delegation s' view s on the timing and format of 
deliberations towards a report to the GC as communicated by the TRIPS Council in December 2020 . 
5.  While delegations' responses to these questions did not indicate any significant shifts in positions, 
a number of delegations sign alled openness to hearing concrete evidence of any IP -related 
challenges that would be related to or arising from the TRIPS Agreement, and to seek consensual, 
proportionate and commensurate solutions to any such problems where necessary. The co -sponsors 
also indicated that they were ready to consider the contours, the scope and the time frame of the 
waiver proposal, and indicated that they would once again reach out to delegations individually for 
further discussions.   
6.  At the informal open -ended meeting on 4 February 2021, Members had continued their 
consideration of the waiver request. She said that, f rom the discussions at these meetings , it seem ed 
that there remain ed differences in Members' approaches to the waiver proposal. A number of 
delegations had indicated a need for more evidence -based discussions in the TRIPS Council to 
understand the issues underlying the waiver request, as well as clarifying the impact and operation 
of the waiver in practise. The co -sponsors had made numerous interventions – and circulated a 
number of new documents – in response to questions and concerns raised by delegations and had 
indicated that they would wish to advance to text -based negotiations.   
7.  She said that, a s regards the question about the Council's report to the Ge neral Council, most 
delegations indicated a preference for a factual report that would once again reflect the state of play 
of discussions among Members, following the same lines as the status report delivered in 
December  2020.   IP/C/M/97  
 
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  8.  As foreshadowed at the info rmal open -ended meeting on 4 February, she had circulated draft 
language for such a report on 9 February, with an invitation for Members to comment on this 
language by 12 February 2021. On the basis of the comments that were received by the deadline, 
she had held further consultations on 16 February, and circulated a revised draft status report in 
document JOB/IP/42 on 17 February, which she hoped could be adopt ed today. The item ha d also 
been placed on the agenda of the General Council meeting scheduled fo r 1 March. This conclude d 
the summary of the Council's activities since its last formal meeting.  
9.  Turning to the revised language for the oral status report to the General Council which had been 
circulated in document JOB/IP/42 on 17 February 2021 , she note d that the African Group and the 
LDC Group had now been listed as co -sponsor s of the waiver proposal , and she suggest ed that this 
be also reflected in the first paragraph of the status report for the purposes of accuracy.  She 
therefore proposed the Council  agree that she would deliver an oral status report to the General 
Council as follows:   
At the meeting of the TRIPS Council on 15 -16 October 2020, India and South Africa 
introduced document IP/C/W/669, requesting a waiver from certain provisions of the 
TRIPS Agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID -19, which 
had been circulated on 2 October 2020 and has since been co -sponsored by the 
delegations of Kenya, Eswatini, Mozambique, Pakistan, Bolivia, Venezuela, Mongolia, 
Zimbabwe, Egypt, the African Group and the LDC Group. The Council continued its 
discussions under that agenda item at informal meetings on 20 November and 
3 December, as well as at its resumed meeting on 10 December 2020. Following the 
status report to the General Council on 16 -17 December 2020, the Council continued its 
consideration of the waiver request at informal meetings on 19 January and 
4 February  2021, and at its formal meeting on 23 February 2021.  
At those meetings, delegations highlighted the common goal of provi ding timely and 
secure access to high -quality, safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines and medicines 
for all. Delegations exchanged views, asked questions, sought clarifications and 
provided replies, clarifications, and information, including through doc uments 
IP/C/W/670, IP/C/W/671, IP/C/W/672, IP/C/W/673 and IP/C/W/674, on the waiver 
request but could not reach consensus, including on whether it is appropriate to move 
to text -based negotiations. Delegations indicated a need for further discussions on th e 
waiver request and views exchanged by delegations.  
This means that the TRIPS Council has not yet completed its consideration of the waiver 
request. The TRIPS Council will therefore continue its consideration of the waiver request 
and report back to the G eneral Council as stipulated in Article IX:3 of the Marrakesh 
Agreement.  
10.  The Council so agreed .  
11.  The Chair  thank ed all delegations, particularly those involved in the consultations, for the 
constructive spirit in which they had engaged in the discussions on this report. As regards the TRIPS 
Council's next steps in this regard, this item would  now be on the agenda of the next regular meeting , 
scheduled for 10 -11 March 2021. After that, the next regular meeting of the TRIPS Council was 
scheduled for 8 -9 June 2021. She said d elegations might wish to consider how to organize the 
Council's consideration of this issue going forward , would be invited to also share their views in this 
regard, so that the Secretariat and the Chair could make any appropriate arrangements.  
12.  In her view, the single most important priority of the global community was to stop the 
COVID -19 pandemic , halt its rapid transmission, reduce the risks of variants and reverse the trend 
of consequential global distress. This goal is only achievable when everyone, everywhere can access 
the health technologies they need for COVID -19 detection, prevention, treatme nt and response. This 
was a goal that Members of the WTO have consistently repeated in their statements. Now more than 
ever, international cooperation and solidarity were vital to restore global health security, now and in 
future.   
13.  The business community i s calling for a coordinated approach to vaccine access in view of the 
risks to the global economy inherent in an uncoordinated approach. The WTO 's four DDGs have also IP/C/M/97  
 
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  issued a statement calling for heightened international cooperation, including ensuring t he global 
availability of vaccines. Importantly, that the war against the pandemic can only be won when 
universal coverage in vaccination is achieved. The new WTO DG ha d stated that for the global 
economy to return to sustained growth, the global community  would need to get a tight grip on the 
pandemic by intensifying cooperation to make equitable and affordable access to vaccines, 
therapeutics, and diagnostics a key plank of the recovery.  
14.  In the informal meeting of 4 February 2021, many Members ha d recogni zed the challenge 
arising from limited manufacturing capacity of vaccines and the inability of existing manufacturers 
to meet global demand. She urged Members to engage in a candid and good -faith discussion on 
what is required to scale  up global production  in these unprecedented times of a public health crisis. 
She expressed her hope that Members would engage in a solution -oriented process that will provide 
an effective solution to boosting productive capacity for products that are essential to deal with 
COVID -19 across the world. The WTO membership should demonstrate its commitment to the 
overarching go als of universal and equitable access to COVID -19 medical products not only in words , 
but through action. She also remind ed Members of the heightened public interest and concern in this 
regard.  
15.  The Chair  invited Members to take the floor.  
16.  The representativ es of Chile; Tanzania ; South Africa ; Egypt ; Colombia ; Chad; Pakistan ; 
Bangladesh ; Mozambique ; India; Indonesia ; El Salvador ; Venezuela ; Sri Lanka ; Namibia ; Nepal ; 
Nigeria ; China ; the European Union ; the United States ; Norway ; Switzerland ; Mali; Singapore ; 
Canada ; the United Kingdom ; Australia ; Japan ; and the Holy See  took the floor.  
17.  The Chair  said that i t seem ed from delegations' statements that there was still no consensus on 
this waiver request at this point. She noted that the proponents ha d made further efforts to address 
a number of questions on the functioning and the impact of the requested waiver, which delegations 
have raised in the last meetings a nd in a recent submission.  In light of this, she encourage d 
delegations to continue to engage with each other, and to seek common ground in regard to the 
subject matter of the waiver request, including in relation to scope and substance  – as indicated by 
proponents in order to achieve the common objective share d by all . 
18.  She emphasize d that the detailed exchanges and discussions that Members had had in the 
context of the waiver proposal were extremely useful and valuable. While Members were still 
discussing the waiver proposal before them, it was her impression that these discussions ha d 
highlighted a number of shared understandings with respect to TRIPS flexibilities which Members 
might wish to reflect on and explore further. COVID -19 may not be the only pan demic. Therefore, 
the TRIPS Council might wish to highlight and communicate such shared understandings on the role 
of IP in the context of a pandemic , as these could provide valuable elements and could help prepare 
for future pandemics.  
19.  She said that she h erself, and the Secretariat , were always available to help facilitate any path 
forward that Members might wish to explore in this regard  
2   OTHER BUSINESS  
20.  The United States  took the floor.  
21.  The Chair noted that the next formal meeting of the Council was sche duled for 10-11 March 
2021 and would have a full, regular agenda, including the item discussed today. She remind ed 
delegations that the agenda for that meeting closed at close of business o n 25 February 2021. 
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