Vol. 558 No. 6
59 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on reform of the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement in order to protect communities' access to seeds, genetic resources, and essential drugs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21441/02]
The WTO Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement provides for a review of Article 27.3(b) four years after the agreement entered into force, i.e. review in 1999. This review is under way and is continuing in the WTO TRIPS Council. Paragraph 19 of the Doha Declaration instructs the TRIPS Council to continue the review of Article 27.3(b) and to, inter alia, examine the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore, and other relevant new developments raised by members pursuant to Article 71.1 of the TRIPS Agreement.
Ireland, along with its EU colleagues, is participating in the review on the basis that it is addressing the manner in which the provision has been implemented and is not an attempt to re-write the scope of the provision. The Irish and EU position is that Article 27.3(b) of TRIPS provides for the necessary flexibility for WTO members' implementation and that UPOV and other similar harmonised plant variety systems provide effective models for implementing Article 27.3(b).
In the context of the mandate provided at the fourth WTO Trade Ministerial Conference at Doha, in November 2001, the European Communities and its member states have recently submitted a concept paper to the TRIPS Council on the review of Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement, and the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore. The paper deals with, inter alia, issues such as farmers' right to save, use, exchange and sell farm-saved seeds and sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. The EC paper and similar such papers communicated by other non-EU WTO members were circulated for consideration at a meeting of the TRIPS Council on 25 to 27 November 2002, and are to be again considered at the next meeting of the TRIPS Council in early 2003.
On the question of the TRIPS Agreement and access to essential drugs, the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health recognises the rights of WTO members to grant compulsory licences and to determine the grounds for granting these licences, in particular when public health is at stake. Paragraph 6 of the declaration instructs the TRIPS Council to find a solution to the problem faced by WTO Members with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector under the TRIPS Agreement.
