WHO Director General Margaret Chan at the 61st World Health Assembly, raised intellectual property issues optimistically, as an opportunity for the organisation to make a difference. Chan highlighted a report due out later this year from the Commission on Social Determinants of Health, which she 'should help us address the root causes of inequities with greater precision'. She then commended members for the 'tremendous progress' made in meetings of the Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation, and Intellectual Property (IGWG).
Health equity in economic and trade policies
World Health Assembly Opens On Note Of Hope For Intellectual Property
Intellectual Property Watch, 20 May 2008
Africa insists trade and development are inseparable
Afriquenligne, 23 April 2008
Demanding assurance that their countries would be better off agreeing to enter Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU), African finance and trade ministers have insisted that the development dimension must be comprehensively addressed in the deals. In a declaration on the negotiations, the ministers also urged the negotiators to ensure that EPAs take into consideration the coherence between trade and development dimensions as well as Africa's regional integration efforts. After a one-day joint meeting, convened by the African Union Commission (AUC) to give political guidance on pressing issues in the areas of trade and development in relation to the EPAs, the ministers noted that the interim deals with the European Commission (EC) were contentious on a number of issues, including the definition of substantially all trade, transitional periods, export taxes, free circulation of goods, national treatment, bilateral safeguards and the non-exclusion clause.
Agriculture and the WTO in Africa: Understand to act
Lebret MC, Alpha A: Groupe de recherche et d'echanges technologiques, 2007
African countries have always struggled to participate fully in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and to influence its decisions. In addition to under-representation at WTO headquarters, the complexity of WTO bodies, rules and procedures weakens inputs. This book provides guidance in understanding how international trade institutions and agreements operate. Its aim is to provide those in charge of civil society organisations in sub-Saharan Africa with tools and references to better understand the stakes behind, and means for, their participation in world trade. Organised around descriptive and factual texts, this work contains many definitions and is illustrated by concrete experiences that facilitate reading.
EPAs: The Way Forward for the ACP
Commonwealth and ACP Secretariat
The High Level Technical Meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, 7-8 April, 2008 undertook a comprehensive stock taking of EPAs that have been concluded in order to provide countries with an objective and accurate assessment of the content, character and implications of the various agreements that will help guide and inform their policy choices. For example, specific studies on particular issues identified useful to assist in the negotiations should be conducted and the ACP Secretariat/Commonwealth Secretariat should assist in organising sensitisation seminars for government officials and Parliamentarians and other stakeholders on EPAs and related issues.
Further Resolution Needed To Keep IP Issues In WTO Negotiations
Mara K: Intellectual Property Watch, 18 April 2008
Intellectual property rights issues on the table in the newly invigorated World Trade Organization negotiations are at risk if remaining deep differences cannot be further narrowed in the coming weeks, WTO Director General Pascal Lamy said. A significant majority of WTO members support either the proposed TRIPS amendment, or the Geographic Indications extension, and the negotiations on each have been linked by proponents in the consultations. But a smaller number of members do not agree to negotiate on the CBD amendment or GI extension, though they do not exclude further discussion, according to Lamy.
Industry Losing Faith In WIPO; Debates US WTO Cases Against China
Viana LP: Intellectual Property Watch, 28 March 2008
The World Intellectual Property Organization is seen as in a state of tumult these days, as the global body searches for a new director general and tries to grapple with issues such as implementing a Development Agenda and further harmonising global patent regimes. And some industry observers think it is causing some to lose trust in the organisation.
Innovative Partnership To Create Another Patent-Free Malaria Drug
Saez C: Intellectual Property Watch, 17 April 2008
After an innovative partnership between a non-governmental group and a pharmaceutical company led to a new cheap non-patented drug against malaria being available in Africa in 2007, the model is being implemented again with another new non-patented anti-malarial drug being delivered to South American patients. Drug research and development being carried out under public funding is a new model that should lead the way, Ann-Marie Sevcsik, DNDi scientific communications manager, told Intellectual Property Watch. “Research and development should be ‘needs-driven’ instead of profit-driven, and not only for neglected diseases but for neglected patients, like cancer patients in the developing world,” she said.
Interim EPAs in Africa: What’s in them? And what’s next?
ODI and ECDPM: Trade Negotiation Insights 7(3), April 2008
By the end of 2007, only eighteen African states (including most non-LDCs and some LDCs) had initialled interim EPAs, as had two Pacific non-LDCs (Fiji and Papua New Guinea), while Caribbean countries went further and approved full EPAs. What have they agreed to? What are the main implementation challenges, some of which will require support from Europe? And for those that remain committed to this process, what are the options for the completion of negotiations towards full EPAs? The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) study attempts to analyse these questions as comprehensively as possible, with a focus on Africa. This article summarises some of the main findings.
Making full use of TRIPS flexibilities in patent laws: A critical review of Uganda’s draft Industrial Property Bill
HEPS Uganda
Since 2000, the Uganda Law Reform Commission has been spearheading the process of reforming Uganda’s patent legislation. The reform is taking place in the context of the Doha Development Agenda, a process for continued negotiations on areas of concern within the WTO agreements raised by developing countries during the Fourth Ministerial Conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001. Although the country's draft bill has been improved in a number of aspects, there is still need for improvement on the drafting language to make use of the flexibilities in the widest allowable sense and capture the new thinking regarding these flexibilities.
Mandelson rules out renegotiation of partnership accords
European Parliament, 18 April 2008
Any renegotiation of the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) already initialled with the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) would be a disaster, Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson told members of the EP International Trade Committee on Thursday. Referring to recurrent criticisms of the EPAs, Mr Mandelson ruled out "any suggestion of renegotiating the agreements already initialled". Any renegotiation would constitute "a new threat of legal uncertainty to the agreements but would also be a disaster for the ACP countries", according to Mr Mandelson, who restated his goal of concluding "full EPAs with comprehensive regional coverage" in the six geographical regions.