A Critical Analysis Of The Declaration On The Trips Agreement And Public Health & Its Implementation
A critical analysis of the Declaration on the TRIPS agreement and public health & its implementation
INTRODUCTION
The Agreement on Trade-Related-Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) is a comprehensive agreement enforced by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) after conclusion of the Uruguay Round in April 1994[1]. This treaty essentially establishes standards for member countries regarding intellectual property (IP) rights in four main areas: copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets. It is the most widely implemented treaty pertaining to IP, as all 151 member states of WTO have to accede to TRIPS, though countries at different stages of development have different time periods to implement TRIPS provisions[2]. It does not require countries to have identical provisions as long as minimum standards are attained; TRIPS also exhibits flexibility by granting countries autonomy to choose suitable methods of implementation, as it recognizes that countries have varying legal systems.
However, there exists strong criticism of TRIPS from the global community, especially from the developing nations, and issues ranging from unfair wealth distribution, improper implementation and lack of access to essential medicines are commonplace; as many as 25 TRIPS disputes have been filed to the WTO since its inception in 1994[3].
The Doha Declaration established in November 2001 and a 2003 implementation decision of Paragraph 6 of the Declaration[4] seeks to address the matter of access of essential medicines to countries. This declaration clarifies that circumvention of certain articles in TRIPS is permitted in the said area and sets out guidelines in implementation and enforcement. It recognizes the serious nature of epidemics threatening developing countries, namely the AIDS pandemic in Africa and other least developed countries and attempts to alleviate the problems these countries face in gaining medical assistance for their citizens.
The focus of this paper...
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