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Proposed design elements for the Pandemic Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) System disregard key features of the comprehensive PABS proposal which has garnered support from at least 72 developing countries.

The Vice-Chair and Co-Facilitators of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) on a new pandemic instrument jointly drafted the proposed design elements for the PABS system. These proposed design elements undermine the efforts of developing countries to lock in concrete mechanisms that will operationalise equity during a public health emergency/pandemic.   

As WHO member states begin the final lap of intense negotiations on reforming the governance to health emergencies, the burden of expectations to reach an agreement in less than three months is getting acute.

Time is of essence and yet….

It is still not certain whether discussions at the forthcoming meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body, will result in concrete negotiations. We are effectively at the doorstep of the May 2024 deadline.

It is baffling that at this late stage of these discussions towards a new pandemic agreement, the plan for next week appears to be unclear with many countries not having enough clarity on the modalities of the process as they head into the two-week marathon negotiations this month. At a briefing this week, the INB Bureau reportedly said that the upcoming meeting will aim to bring countries closer on conceptual issues and that text-based negotiations is expected during the subsequent INB meeting in March.

In this edition, we bring you a primer on the state of play in these discussions and also discuss text of the proposals that will be considered next week.

The World Trade Organization’s Moratorium on Customs Duties on Electronic Transmissions (the “Moratorium”) prohibits members from imposing customs duties on “electronic transmissions.” While the term “electronic transmissions” is undefined, the Moratorium in essence implies that countries are forbidden from imposing import taxes on business-to-consumer and business-to-business transactions that take place across borders over the Internet. The Moratorium therefore encompasses cross-border trade in a range of digital goods and services, including software; digital movies, music, and video games; and online legal, banking or business consultancy services.[1]

The World Trade Organization (WTO) along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the World Bank (WB) published a report titled “Digital Trade for Development” in December 2023 that attempts to demonstrate the numerous benefits of electronic commerce. One of the issues the report deals with concerns the WTO’s moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, which is up for renewal at the WTO’s Thirteenth Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi in February 2024 (MC13). Unfortunately, the report provides a number of flawed findings in this respect. This note provides a quick overview of some of these flaws.

More here and PDF here

The World Trade Organization (WTO) along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the World Bank (WB) published a report titled “Digital Trade for Development” in December 2023 that attempts to demonstrate the numerous benefits of electronic commerce. One of the issues the report deals with concerns the WTO’s moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions, which is up for renewal at the WTO’s Thirteenth Ministerial Conference in Abu Dhabi in February 2024 (MC13). Unfortunately, the report provides a number of flawed findings in this respect. This note provides a quick overview of some of these flaws.

The consensus is that there is no consensus.

This really is the story from the WTO on whether temporary clarifications in intellectual property rules be extended for the production and supply of COVID-19 tests and treatments.

The global health ecosystem gets curiouser and curiouser.

In today’s edition, we bring you an update from the WTO TRIPS extension discussions - where countries agreed that there has been no consensus on the decision.

On the same day, February 14th, that WTO members met for a General Council meeting in Geneva, effectively noting the end of the TRIPS Waiver discussions, an ill-timed tweet from the WTO sparked off a kerfuffle on social media. The international trade body with 164 members, got some hate on Valentine’s Day for putting out “pro-patent love tweets”. This is a serious misstep in institutional communication in such a polarized atmosphere.

The World Trade Organization has failed to reach an agreement to waive intellectual property rights on Covid-19 tests and treatments for poorer countries.

Members of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) council said it could not reach consensus after years of discussion, despite the “considerable efforts” of members.

Campaigners said the news was a “slap in the face”.

Research published last year found that more than 50% of Covid deaths in low and middle-income countries could have been avoided if people had the same access to vaccines as wealthy states. According to data published by the World Health Organization in January 2023, 75% of people living in high-income countries have been vaccinated compared with fewer than 25% in low-income states.

Health Policy Watch has obtained portions of the latest draft of the pandemic agreement that member states will negotiate over at the eighth intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) starting on Monday, 19 February.

At the time of publishing, only member states had access to the draft, although a number of civil society organisations recognised as  stakeholders have requested a draft from the World Health Organization (WHO) Bureau that is overseeing the negotiations for some time.

The tranches of the agreement are grouped according to how they have been negotiated, so are not always sequential.

Health Policy Watch has obtained portions of the latest draft of the pandemic agreement that member states will negotiate over at the eighth intergovernmental negotiating body (INB) starting on Monday, 19 February.

At the time of publishing, only member states had access to the draft, although a number of civil society organisations recognised as  stakeholders have requested a draft from the World Health Organization (WHO) Bureau that is overseeing the negotiations for some time.

The tranches of the agreement are grouped according to how they have been negotiated, so are not always sequential.