General Council Meeting

December 9-11, 2019

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Statement by India

Trips Council Matters

A: Annual Review of the Special Compulsory Licensing System

India attaches high importance to the Doha Declaration on Public Health, the Paragraph 6 System as established under the 2003 Waiver Decision and the Protocol amending the TRIPS agreement. India was among the first few countries that notified its acceptance of the Protocol in March 2007.

2. The Paragraph 6 System, as established under the 2003 Waiver Decision, was expected to address the public health problems faced by Members with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector. However, due to difficulties in implementing the protocol, export of HIV/AIDS medicines by a Canadian pharmaceutical company to Rwanda in September 2008 has been the first and the only use of this system so far.

3. That being so, India urges Members to constructively engage on the question of improving the Paragraph 6 System for making it more workable and effective, so that it can benefit Members with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector.

B: Proposal for a decision on an extension of the period for the acceptance by Members of the Protocol amending TRIPS Agreement

India congratulates Georgia and Cuba, who have accepted the Protocol, since the 2018 Annual Review. However, 36 Members are yet to accept the Protocol. India urges these Members to do so at the earliest.

2. As it may not be possible for all these Members to notify their acceptance of the Protocol by 31st December 2019, India supports the extension of the deadline for acceptance of the Protocol by further two years.

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