[Ip-health] WHO guide on compulsory licensing and government use: Forthcoming?

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.keionline.org/index.php?option=3Dcom_jd-wp&Itemid=3D39&p=3D79

Thiru, from Geneva | WHO | WTO
WHO guide on compulsory licensing and government use: Forthcoming?
August 8th, 2007 by Thiru Balasubramaniam

On 23 October 2006, the WHO, as an intergovernmental organization with
observer status at the WTO TRIPS Council, presented a seven page report
on its technical cooperation activities with respect to =93Trade,
Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Medicines=94.

The full document IP/C/W/478/Add.4 can be found on the WTO document
database:
http://www.wto.org/english/docs_e/docs_e.htm

Under =93Policy and technical guidance=94, the WHO indicated that a
forthcoming publication entitled Guide for the Application and Granting
of Compulsory Licences and Authorization of Government Use of
Pharmaceutical Patents would be released. This guide is a joint
activity between WHO, UNICEF and UNAIDS. The mandate of WHA 60.30
requested the WHO Director-General to provide technical and policy
support to countries using the flexibilities of the TRIPS Agreement and
other international agreements and to =93implement the Doha Ministerial
Declaration=94. Ten months after WHO=92s bold announcement at WTO, we are
still awaiting with baited breath, the release of this compulsory
licensing guide. As recent experience in Thailand and Brazil has shown,
there has been a dearth of political and practical support from WHO in
helping countries implement the Doha Declaration which reaffirms WTO
Members=92 =93right to protect public health and in particular, to promote
access to medicines for all.=94 This must change.

The description of the guide furnished by WHO to the WTO TRIPS Council
is extracted below.

     A. Policy and technical guidance

     14. WHO is also in the process of publishing the Guide for the
Application and Granting of Compulsory Licences and Authorization of
Government Use of Pharmaceutical Patents. The concept of the Guide had
been agreed upon at an inter-agency technical workshop organized by WHO
and UNICEF, with the support of UNAIDS in August 2005. Participants
included representatives from UN agencies and international
organizations such as the Global Fund for the Fight against AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM), UNAIDS, UNDP, UNICEF and WHO. This
Guide focuses on the grant of compulsory licences and government use
authorization, in the context of the purchase and import of
patent-protected pharmaceutical products. It provides general
recommendations to governments, procurement agencies and
nongovernmental organizations on the modalities for the application of
compulsory licences and government use authorization. It also addresses
the special situation of least developed countries, as provided for in
Paragraph 7 of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public
Health, which allows least developed countries a transition period
until 2016 during which they need not provide for, nor enforce, patent
rights and exclusive marketing rights in relation to pharmaceutical
products.





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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
voice +41.22.791.6727
fax +41.22.723.2988
mobile +41 76 508 0997
thiru@keionline.org