General Council Meeting

December 9-11, 2019

Statement by India

TRIPS non-violation and situation complaints moratorium

We thank the co-sponsors for their proposal.

2. India’s position on the issue of TRIPS non-violation and situation complaints remains unchanged. India believes that introducing non-violation and situation complaints into the TRIPS Agreement is unnecessary. As such, any benefits arising from the Agreement can be adequately protected by applying the text of the Agreement in accordance with accepted principles of international law, without any need for introducing the legally uncertain notion of non-violation and situation complaints.

3. Serious concerns remain on the debilitating impact that non-violation complaints in TRIPS can have on the regulatory policy space of Members and on TRIPS flexibilities. They can not only have a chilling effect on Member’s exercise of their TRIPS flexibilities but also severely restrain the ability of Members to achieve other public policy objectives.

4. India looks forward to working with like-minded Members in making non-violation complaints inapplicable to TRIPS.

5. Pending that, India supports the proposal for extension of the moratorium on the applicability of NVSC to the TRIPS Agreement till MC12.

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