India calls for IPR waiver in WTO

New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday called for waiver of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in World Trade Organisation (WTO) and dismantling new trade barriers in the global fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

In October 2020, India and South Africa had submitted the first proposal, suggesting a waiver for all WTO members on the implementation of certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement in relation to the prevention, containment or treatment of Covid-19.

In May this year, a revised proposal was submitted by 62 co-sponsors, including India, South Africa, and



Indonesia.

The agreement on TRIP came into effect in January 1995. It is a multilateral agreement on intellectual property (IP) rights such as copyright, industrial designs, patents and protection of undisclosed information or trade secrets.

“Our response to the pandemic needs to ensure equitable access to vaccines and other Covid-19 related health products by ensuring quick resolution of the supply side constraints. One of the ways to demonstrate this is by accepting the TRIPS waiver proposal,” Goyal said, in his address to the G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Meeting in Naples, Italy.