On Thursday, 27 October 2016, Brazil, China, India and South Africa submitted a communication (IP/C/W/619) to the World Trade Organization (WTO) requesting the WTO Secretariat to “place a dedicated agenda item for consideration at the 8-9 November 2016 session of the TRIPS Council entitled “the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines.” In the WTO submission, Brazil, China, India and South Africa enclosed the entire Final Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines (UN HLP) as an attachment. This represents the first formal discussion of the HLP Report and its recommendations at an international organization – following the publication of the HLP report on 14 September 2016. As noted in footnote 1 of document IP/C/W/619, the “Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines is enclosed as an attachment.” The publication date for the submission of Brazil, China, India and South Africa is 31 October 2016.
The submission can be found here: /wp-content/uploads/W619-01.pdf
IP/C/W/619
31 October 2016
(16-5986)
Page: 1/1
Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Original: English
THE UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL’S HIGH-LEVEL PANEL REPORT ON ACCESS TO MEDICINES
COMMUNICATION FROM BRAZIL, CHINA, INDIA AND SOUTH AFRICA
The following communication, dated 27 October 2016 is circulated at the request of Brazil, China, India and South Africa.
1. In November of 2015, the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, convened a High-Level Panel (HLP) on Access to Medicines with an objective “to review and assess proposals and recommend solutions for remedying the policy incoherence between the justifiable rights of inventors, international human rights law, trade rules and public health in the context of health technologies.” On 14 September 2016, the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines released its Final Report.
2. In light of the HLP’s final report, Brazil, China, India and South Africa requests the Secretariat of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to place a dedicated agenda item for consideration at the 8-9 November 2016 session of the TRIPS Council entitled “the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines.”
3. This co-sponsors of this communication encourage Members to share their views on the report of the HLP at the 8-9 November 2016 session of the TRIPS Council.
[Footnote] 1 The Report of the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines is enclosed as an attachment to this document for information (available in English only).
