Notes on 2017 Special 301 Submissions

Posted on by Zack Struver

Wednesday, March 8, 2017, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) will hold the first Special 301 Hearing of the Trump administration. This year, USTR received 63 submissions in advance fo the hearing from governments, civil society organizations, and industry groups.

This blog post pulls out interesting selections from the various submissions, and includes as attachments the submissions of selected organizations.
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8 March 2017 – Human Rights Council’s Access to Medicines panel set to discuss Report of UN HLP

Posted on by Thiru

On 8 March 2017, the Human Rights Council will convene a three hour Access to Medicines panel which will take place from 3 PM to 6 PM in Room XX of the Palais des Nations in Geneva. This panel is mandated by resolution 32/15 which passed at 32nd session of the Human Rights Council (June/July 2016). The resolution directed the Human Rights Council to convene an access to medicines panel at its 34th session in March 2017.

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1 March 2017 – WTO TRIPS Council – India’s statement on Non-Violation and Situation Complaints

Posted on by Thiru

On 1 March 2017, India delivered the following intervention on Non-Violation and Situation Complaints at the WTO TRIPS Council.

Agenda Item 8. Non-Violation and Situation Complaints

Mr.Chairman, my delegation would like to thank the delegation of Kyrgyz Republic for joining as co-sponsor of document W385 Rev.1.

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1 March 2017 – WTO TRIPS Council – India’s intervention on the Report of the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines

Posted on by Thiru

On 1 March 2017, India delivered the following statement during WTO TRIPS Council discussions on the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines.

Agenda item 12: the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines

Thank you Chairman.

At the outset, I would like to thank delegations of Brazil, China and South Africa who are also co-sponsors of this agenda item.

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1 March 2017 – WTO TRIPS Council – Brazil’s intervention on the Report of the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines

Posted on by Thiru

On 1 March 2017, Brazil delivered the following statement during WTO TRIPS Council discussions on the Report of the United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines.

High Level Panel

As we all know, on 19 November 2015, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced the creation of the High-Level Panel on Innovation and Access to Health Technologies. Responding to this invitation, two chairs were designated to the panel, namely, Ms. Ruth Dreifuss, from Switzerland, and Festus Mogae, from Botswana.

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Company disclosures of R&D costs on SEC filings

Posted on by James Love

Today I attended a work session of the Maryland House of Delegates subcommittee on Health Facilitates and Pharmaceuticals of the Health and Government Operations Committee. I was there to testify in support of HB 666, a bill titled: Public Health – Expensive Drugs – Manufacturer Reporting and Drug Price Transparency Advisory Committee. (PDF version here).

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CDC FOIA shows US, WHO opposed request to discuss UNSG’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines Report at EB

Posted on by Zack Struver

Email records and memoranda released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in response to a Knowledge Ecology International Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request show that representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States government opposed including India’s proposed agenda item on the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines for discussion at the 140th WHO Executive Board meeting.

The full set of documents, which was released to KEI without redaction, are available here:

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MEP Lola Sánchez questions the European Commission: EU’s position on the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines at WIPO

Posted on by Thiru

On 2 February 2017, MEP Lola Sánchez Caldentey (Podemos, Spain) tabled a series of written questions to the European Commission on the positions taken by the European Union at the World Intellectual Property Organization on 14 December 2016 in relation to the United Nations High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines (UN HLP)

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WTO TRIPS Council: Brazilian submission on Ecommerce and Copyright

Posted on by Thiru

In December 2016, Brazil submitted a proposal to the World Trade Organization entitled, ELECTRONIC COMMERCE AND COPYRIGHT (JOB/GC/113, JOB/IP/19), intended for circulation at the WTO’s General Council and the TRIPS Council. This paper will be discussed at the next session of the TRIPS Council under agenda item 13, “Work Programme on Electronic Commerce” (1-2 March 2017).

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