{"id":3614,"date":"2022-04-02T17:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-02T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erik-marquardt.eu\/?p=3614"},"modified":"2022-06-14T16:29:10","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T14:29:10","slug":"ein-schritt-zur-globalen-impfgerechtigkeit-oder-fauler-kompromiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erik-marquardt.eu\/en\/one-step-to-global-vaccine-justice-or-failed-compromise\/","title":{"rendered":"A step toward global vaccine equity or lazy compromise?"},"content":{"rendered":"
India, South Africa, the USA and the EU have agreed on a compromise proposal for the TRIPS waiver. In this article, you can find out exactly what the TRIPS agreement is and what the position of the Green Group in the European Parliament is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The TRIPS Agreement<\/a> (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) was adopted in 1994 as part of the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). The TRIPs Agreement was created at that time to ensure the design of intellectual property rights and their enforceability in the member countries of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The goal of the agreement is to protect intellectual property without placing barriers on legitimate trade. However, the agreement does not create a uniform international substantive law, but is based on the principle of territoriality, which means that the TRIPS Agreement only creates a minimum standard of protection with regard to the granting and enforcement of intellectual property rights, to which the member states must adhere and which also applies in each case only in the member state itself. In addition, the rules from the TRIPS Agreement must be implemented in national laws in order to apply at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A vaccine falls under the scope of the TRIPS Agreement or the national law of the member states because it is intellectual property and a patent has been issued. However, this also ensures that certain medicines are kept under lock and key and are accessible to fewer people. For this reason, India and South Africa joined forces back in October 2020 to call for a waiver. In the meantime, more than 100 countries have joined, and the European Parliament also supported this demand with a resolution adopted last summer. Resolution<\/a>. The aim is to obtain an exemption in the TRIPS Agreement for the Covid 19 vaccine and other medical products and technologies for pandemic control. At present, the situation is such that worldwide only 10 states 75% of the vaccine produced.<\/a> have kept for themselves. 17 months after the proposal for a waiver, in March 2022, the EU, USA, India and South Africa (the \"Quad\") agreed on a possible compromise, which has now also been published. The preliminary text of the law<\/a> in its current form, however, does not even come close to the waiver originally proposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We Greens in the European Parliament welcome in principle that progress has been made in drafting a waiver, but we still have considerable points to criticize about the text. It is too narrow, has significant limitations and will probably ultimately provide less legal certainty due to ambiguous interpretations. In addition, we fear that the text as currently drafted will set a negative precedent for future global health crises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. the text makes the interpretation of the TRIPS Agreement time-bound, applicable only to Covid-19 vaccines, and applicable only to certain WTO member states that classify themselves as \"developing\" countries<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. therapeutics and diagnostics are not affected by the patent suspension<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. the problematic eligibility criteria and the total disregard of the situation of importing countries may exclude many low- and middle-income countries from the production, supply, export and import of vaccines and legitimize division and exclusion, limiting access for all people<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. existing TRIPS flexibilities may be undermined and restricted, and additional previously non-existent \"TRIPS+\" requirements may also be introduced<\/p>\n\n\n\nPandemic and the vaccine kept under lock and key<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Our criticism and position<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Our main criticisms of the current version:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Recent developments<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n