Article ; Online: Intellectual Property and the Politics of Public Good during COVID-19: Framing Law, Institutions, and Ideas during TRIPS Waiver Negotiations at the WTO.
Journal of health politics, policy and law
2023 Volume 49, Issue 1, Page(s) 9–42
Abstract: Context: To facilitate the manufacturing of COVID-19 medical products, in October 2020 India and South Africa proposed a waiver of certain intellectual property (IP) provisions of a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement. After nearly two years, a ... ...
| Abstract | Context: To facilitate the manufacturing of COVID-19 medical products, in October 2020 India and South Africa proposed a waiver of certain intellectual property (IP) provisions of a World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement. After nearly two years, a narrow waiver agreement that did little for vaccine access passed the ministerial despite the pandemic's impact on global trade, which the WTO is mandated to safeguard. Methods: The authors conducted a content analysis of WTO legal texts, key-actor statements, media reporting, and the WTO's procedural framework to explore legal, institutional, and ideational explanations for the delay. Findings: IP waivers are neither legally complex nor unprecedented within WTO law, yet these waiver negotiations exceeded their mandated 90-day negotiation period by approximately 18 months. Waiver opponents and supporters engaged in escalating strategic framing that justified and eventually secured political attention at head-of-state level, sidelining other pandemic solutions. The frames deployed discouraged consensus on a meaningful waiver, which ultimately favored the status quo that opponents preferred. WTO institutional design encouraged drawn-out negotiation while limiting legitimate players in the debate to trade ministers, empowering narrow interest group politics. Conclusions: Despite global political attention, the WTO process contributed little to emergency vaccine production, suggesting a pressing need for reforms aimed at more efficient and equitable multilateral processes. |
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| MeSH term(s) | Humans ; International Cooperation ; Negotiating ; COVID-19/epidemiology ; Commerce ; Politics ; Intellectual Property ; Vaccines | |||||
| Chemical Substances | Vaccines | |||||
| Language | English | |||||
| Publishing date | 2023-07-28 | |||||
| Publishing country | United States | |||||
| Document type | Journal Article | |||||
| ZDB-ID | 752966-1 | |||||
| ISSN | 1527-1927 ; 0361-6878 | |||||
| ISSN (online) | 1527-1927 | |||||
| ISSN | 0361-6878 | |||||
| DOI | 10.1215/03616878-10910269 | |||||
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| Database | MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System OnLINE |
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