CUTS International calls for second declaration on TRIPs, public health

The global civil society should take lead in pressing for a second version of the Doha Declaration on World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) agreement on intellectual property and public health to deal with crisis situations, research firm CUTS International said.

The WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights or TRIPS Agreement came into effect in January 1995.

It is a multilateral agreement on intellectual property rights such as copyright, industrial designs, patents and protection of undisclosed information or trade secrets.

It said that the WTO Doha Declaration on TRIPS and public health, 2001 was drafted and successfully advocated by the civil society to allow access to low-cost AIDS drugs.

COVID-19 pandemic too is another public health issue and therefore there is an imperative to allow affordable access to vaccines, and curative medicines and devices to cope with the pandemic, it added.

“The global civil society should take lead in pressing for a second version of the Doha Declaration on TRIPs and Public Health in order to deal with the emergency,” it said.