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COVID-19: ‘If voluntary licensing fails, compulsory licensing has to be a legitimate tool’ von der Leyen

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MEPs will vote on whether the EU should ask the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines. Parliament will vote on a resolution tomorrow to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents.

During the May plenary session, the European Parliament called on the Commission to ask the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to waive intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines, an initiative proposed by South Africa and India and seemingly supported more recently by the new Biden administration in the US. 

Opinion among MEPs is sharply divided with some calling for a waiver, while others argue that it could be counterproductive and is a “false good idea” that would not speed up the provision of vaccines and would harm innovation. Instead, they argued the Commission should push for voluntary licensing alongside knowledge- and technology-sharing as well as ramping up production facilities in, among other regions, Africa.

On the G20 Global Health Summit that was recently convened by Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and von derl Leyen. Von der Leyen outlined the three main points made in the resulting declaration, she said: “First of all, [the G20] committed to boosting production capacity in low and middle income countries. Then, of course, the second topic tackling those bottlenecks in the supply chains, for the seamless flow of vaccines and components. Finally,  we committed to investing in a global surveillance and early warning system.” 

On the TRIPS waiver Ursula von der Leyen said: “The question of the TRIPS waiver has been raised recently, we said we are open for discussions. Now just four weeks later, we have put forward a new global trade initiative at the WTO aiming to deliver more equitable access to vaccines and therapeutics… I think intellectual property has to be protected, protected, because it is the idea behind the breakthrough. And it retains the incentives for innovation in research and development. And of course, voluntary licenses are the most effective way to facilitate expanding production. 

“At the G20 Global Health summit reaffirmed this assessment, however, and it’s a big however, in a global emergency like this, like this pandemic, if voluntary licensing fails, compulsory licensing has to be a legitimate tool to scale up production. And this is why together with WTO, we want to clarify and simplify the use of compulsory licensing in times of national emergency. We have discussed this proposal yesterday with the WTO.

“Europehas also committed one billion euro to create manufacturing hubs in different regions in Africa, with African partners and our industrial partners.”

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In the previous debate MEPs on both sides criticised the US and the UK for hoarding doses to excess at a time when poorer countries have little or no access to jabs. Alone among its peers in the developed world, the EU has already exported roughly half of its production to countries in need, they added.

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