On Friday, 19 June 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) convened an informal virtual Open-ended Meeting of the TRIPS Council. . The following statements were delivered by South Africa at the virtual open-ended informal meeting of the TRIPS Council. In… Continue Reading
On June 9, 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) Appellate Body circulated its reports relating to the Australia – Tobacco Plain Packaging cases. The reports issued the decision regarding the appeals brought by Honduras and the Dominican Republic against the… Continue Reading
Under the notification of laws and regulations obligations of Article 63.2 of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) TRIPS Agreement, on 23 April 2020, Canada sent a notification (IP/N/1/CAN/30) to the WTO in relation to “Bill C-13 An Act respecting certain… Continue Reading
Background In 2001, the World Trade Organization (WTO) began negotiations on the rules regarding patents and access to medicine. While several issues were clarified and resolved in the November 2001 “Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health”, the negotiations took… Continue Reading
In February 2020, the World Trade Organization (WTO) de-restricted the minutes of the TRIPS Council’s October 2019 session. While the official minutes (IP/C/M/93/Add.1) were circulated to WTO members on 9 December 2019, the October 2019 minutes were only available to… Continue Reading
On Friday, 24 January 2020, South Africa submitted a paper to the World Trade Organization (WTO) TRIPS Council entitled, Intellectual Property and the Public Interest: The WTO TRIPS Agreement and the Copyright Three-Step Test” This submission (document IP/C/W/663), will be… Continue Reading
On Thursday, 31 October 2019, the World Trade Organization (WTO) hosted the eighth trilateral symposium jointly convened by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The theme of this year’s symposium was ” “Cutting-Edge Health… Continue Reading
On Friday, 18 October 2019, South Africa delivered the following statement at the WTO TRIPS Council on transparency of R&D Costs and Pricing of Medicines and Health Technology. Intellectual Property and the Public Interest: R&D Costs and Pricing of Medicines… Continue Reading
On Friday, 4 October 2019, the World Trade Organization (WTO) published a submission by the Republic of South Africa on “R&D Costs and Pricing of Medicines and Health Technologies” (IP/C/W/659). In this paper, South Africa requested the WTO TRIPS Council… Continue Reading
On 8 February 2019, the World Trade Organization (WTO) published a submission (IP/C/W/652) by Australia; Canada; Chile; The European Union; Hong Kong, China; Japan; the Republic of Korea; Singapore; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; and the United States to the TRIPS Council… Continue Reading