The Fate of the TRIPS Waiver at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference
Channel: LSE Law School
Date: 2021-12-09

Join a panel of experts to discuss global vaccine inequity and the fate of the TRIPS waiver at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference.
About this event
Dr Luke McDonagh (LSE) will outline the context of the waiver proposal, noting that as the WTO conference looms, although the TRIPS waiver proposal has the support of more than 100 countries, including the US and China, the UK and EU continue to block the measure at the WTO.

Renowned expert on IP and access to medicines Professor Caroline Ncube (University of Cape Town) will be in attendance at the WTO MC12 and will provide an on the ground comment from Geneva on the pertinent question of whether an agreement on a TRIPS waiver can be reached at MC12.

Mr Markus Lang (Hertie School) will explain the rationale within the EU, and Germany in particular, for opposition to the TRIPS waiver.

The panel is chaired by Dr Siva Thambisetty (LSE), and will conclude with an audience Q&A.

The failure to resolve the problem of global vaccine inequity over the past 12 months raises critical questions about the relationship between access to medicines and International Intellectual Property Law rules within the World Trade Organisation (WTO). To coincide with the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) during 30 November-2 December 2021, this LSE Law School public event evaluates the proposal, made by India and South Africa in October 2020, to waive IP rules under the WTO TRIPS Agreement to allow more vaccine production in global south countries such as South Africa, India and Brazil.