The above is news from the HINDU. Let us understand some impor | ECONOMY by VIVEK SINGH

The above is news from the HINDU. Let us understand some important points.

1) Domestic Intellectual Property (IP) laws give protection only within the country. If Indian Govt. has given patent to a company in India for a particular drug then in India no other company can produce that drug but our domestic of course other countries can produce that drug because the "Patent Act 1970" is applicable only in India. So, to give protection to the patent/IPs all over the world so that no other country can produce that drug, the WTO member countries have signed TRIPS Agreement (Trade related intellectual property rights). But in exceptional circumstances various requirements under TRIPS can be waived if the member countries agree. Now US has supported our demand that waiver can be provided under TRIPS agreement for Covid-19 vaccines but it has not said anything about other medical equipments or technology to manufacture the medicines.

See, if the clause under the TRIPS is waived off and all the countries are allowed to produce covid-19 vaccines (with or without payment of some royalty) then also the countries will require the TECHNOLOGY to be TRANSFERRED to them. Waiving the TRIPS clauses regarding manufacturing of covid-19 vaccines does not AUTOMATICALLY transfers the technology. For that the COMPANIES may have to be forced by changing other domestic legal provisions but it can be too draconian and counterproductive.

2) Suppose India wants to give "Compulsory License" (read in detail from the book) to a domestic firm to manufacture covid-19 vaccines (in case the patent lies with some other foreign firm), then also the domestic firm should have the technology to manufacture that vaccine. And in that case too, the TRIPS asks for various restrictions like the drugs produced by the Indian domestic firm should be packaged differently i.e. colour, shape etc., it cannot export or in case it exports then only to the limited amount which the importing country can't manufacture and bla bla... which can be seen in the case of HIV/AIDS case also.

3) Even if WTO member countries have one vote each, most of the decisions happen through consensus i.e. they try to convince all the member countries so that everyone agrees on a particular decision. Only when consensus fails then in rare cases voting is done.