The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is working on a ‘compromise outcome’ that includes a limited and conditional waiver from certain intellectual property rights just for Covid-19 vaccines for developing countries. Under the proposal, the waiver can only be availed of by developing countries that accounted for less than 10% of total global exports of Covid-19 vaccine doses in 2021.

India and South Africa had in 2020 proposed a comprehensive waiver of certain provisions of copyrights, industrial designs, patents and protection of undisclosed information in the Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for available Covid-19 treatments, technology and vaccines to help countries fight the pandemic. The move is now sponsored by 65 WTO members.

“The 10% export criterion is a positive for India as it leaves out China and the European Union (EU), but the transparency requirements can be a big hurdle,” said an expert on trade issues.

Biswajit Dhar, a professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, expressed disappointment.

“It is a dilution from the high moral ground that India took in October 2020 which is essential to combat the pandemic. It is a disappointing proposal as 65 cosponsors are backing India including the Africa Group and more still joining us,” Dhar said.

Ashwani Mahajan, national co-convenor at Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an affiliate of RSS opposed the proposal. “Though this is not an official document but such a proposal is not acceptable and we need an all-encompassing, comprehensive waiver that goes beyond vaccines and includes trade secrets. We must protect our offensive interests.”

The compromise, called the “outcome of the quadrilateral discussions,” was reached after talks among a subgroup of WTO countries including India, South Africa, the US and the EU. The text is being considered by the EU. “The product scope is limited to vaccines with a commitment to decide on the extension of the solution to therapeutics and diagnostics within six months from the date of the decision on vaccines,” as per the compromise outcome.