200th ARTNeT Working Paper
Towards more affordable medicine: A proposal to waive certain obligations from the Agreement on TRIPS

Abstract:

Access to medicines at prices patients can afford has been a recurrent concern for the global community ever since the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) was adopted in 1995 as one of the agreements under the World Trade Organization (WTO). In 2001, WTO Members emphasised that the “TRIPS Agreement does not and should not prevent Members from taking measures to protect public health … and that the Agreement can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO Members' right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all” (World Trade Organization 2001: paragraph 4). Subsequently, the adoption of the Doha Declaration provided clarity with regard to the flexibilities in the TRIPS Agreement and many developing countries used these flexibilities to facilitate access to medicines when in need (especially in the HIV/AIDS context). Such need might have again occurred with the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the recently submitted proposal by India and South Africa, discussed by the TRIPS Council in the WTO in October 2020, this working paper discusses some possible ways forward in dealing with some specific obligations under the Agreement on TRIPS with an objective of enhancing world’s chances for prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19. 

Women in ARTNeT Survey 

The link to the survey is here:The deadline for completion is December 7th. As part of the campaign, we are repeating a questionnaire to gather information and ideas on barriers women professionals face at work, causes of the barriers, and ways to promote women professionals’ involvement and influence in policy analysis and policy-making (the first survey was done in November 2018). We kindly invite you to complete and share the questionnaire with your colleagues, friends, anyone else whose experience or opinions you believe could contribute to the formulation of the campaign. The survey is completely anonymous and should take about 10 minutes.
 
. This campaign aims to promote the inclusion of women and their contributions in applied research, generating solid evidence for better policymaking in the areas of trade, investment, and innovation and their role in sustainable development.- on the road to gender parity in ARTNeT Women in ARTNeTThe ARTNeT secretariat is continuing its campaign

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6045810/Women-in-ARTNeT-Questionnaire
 
The ARTNeT Secretariat very much appreciates your attention and valuable inputs.

 

Upcoming events 

Abstract:

Project PGM (Post-Globalization movement) is an industry research project that combines the intellectual powerhouse of research faculty, graduate students, and industry experts to envision the Global Value Supply Chain's future. Many industry-leading companies worldwide and their executives have participated in this project and provided insightful feedback and invaluable support. For phase I of the project, the "Five-Dimensional Framework" was developed to analyze four countries' competitiveness, assess the COVID-19 effect, anticipate challenges of foreign trade policies, and outline rebalancing options among the US, Mexico, India, and China. It is aimed to solve real-world problems with complex projects and measure our success by predicting industry movements and emerging trends within the supply and value chain. Speakers Hyoduk Shin and Helen Wang.

Register here.
 

News from ARTNeT members and partners
 

Global Trade Alert becomes a key component of a new "St.Gallen Endowment for Prosperity Through Trade"

The creation of this Endowment will enable the Global Trade Alert (GTA) initiative - a longstanding ARTNeT collaborating institution - to further expand its activities and in-house digital capabilities. The new Endowment will provide a stable institutional home for GTA. The exiting news is that In addition to tracking traditional trade-related policies (including increasingly subsidies and the trade-related fallout of growing geopolitical rivalry), in the years ahead GTA will expand its work on two further strategic "pillars": the trade-related aspects of the growth of the digital economy and the trade-related aspects of the transition to a low carbon economy. 
Read the press release. 

Need data or tools to analyse data? 

Please visit DATABASES
 

Publications from ARTNeT members and partners

 

 

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