No Free TRIPS Act

Bill: 117-s-4063
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Blackburn, Marsha [R-TN]
Introduced: 2022-04-07
Policy area: Commerce
Latest action: action_date: 2022-04-07
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-04-07
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><b>No Free TRIPS Act</b></p> <p>This bill prohibits the U.S. government from negotiating or concluding any withdrawal from or modification to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) without explicit authorization from Congress. </p> <p>The TRIPS Agreement is one of several international agreements that led to the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In October 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, several WTO members proposed a waiver of some TRIPS obligations, including obligations related to national patent laws. </p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 4063 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES April 7, 2022 Mrs. Blackburn (for herself, Mr. Tillis , Mr. Tuberville , Mr. Cramer , Mr. Hagerty , Ms. Lummis , Mr. Rubio , and Mr. Lee ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To prohibit the President from negotiating or concluding any withdrawal, suspension, waiver, or modification to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights without explicit authorization from Congress.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the No Free TRIPS Act . 2. Limitation on modification of Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (a) In general The President, and any official, employee, or agent of the United States, may not negotiate or conclude any withdrawal, suspension, waiver, or modification to the TRIPS Agreement without obtaining explicit authorization from Congress before beginning negotiations with respect to that withdrawal, suspension, or modification. (b) TRIPS agreement defined In this section, the term TRIPS Agreement means the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights referred to in section 101(d)(15) of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act ( 19 U.S.C. 3511(d)(15) ).