The November 2001 Doha Declaration reaffirmed flexibility of TRIPS member states in circumventing intellectual property rights for better access to essential medicines. Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see November (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Doha, Qatar Doha (Arabic: الدوحة;, Ad-Dawḥah) (population 370,000) is the capital of Qatar, located on the Persian Gulf. ...

In Paragraphs 4 to 6 of the Doha Declaration on TRIPS (Trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights) and Public Health, governments agreed that: The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) is an international agreement on the subject of intellectual property. It covers copyright, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, industrial designs, geographical indicia and integrated circuit layouts. ...

"4. The TRIPS Agreement does not and should not prevent Members from taking measures to protect public health. Accordingly, while reiterating our commitment to the TRIPS Agreement, we affirm that the Agreement can and should be interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO Members' right to protect public health and, in particular, to promote access to medicines for all.

In this connection, we reaffirm the right of WTO Members to use, to the full, the provisions in the TRIPS Agreement, which provide flexibility for this purpose.

5. Accordingly and in the light of paragraph 4 above, while maintaining our commitments in the TRIPS Agreement, we recognize that these flexibilities include:

(a) In applying the customary rules of interpretation of public international law, each provision of the TRIPS Agreement shall be read in the light of the object and purpose of the Agreement as expressed, in particular, in its objectives and principles.

(b) Each Member has the right to grant compulsory licences and the freedom to determine the grounds upon which such licences are granted.

(c) Each Member has the right to determine what constitutes a national emergency or other circumstances of extreme urgency, it being understood that public health crises, including those relating to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other epidemics, can represent a national emergency or other circumstances of extreme urgency.

(d) The effect of the provisions in the TRIPS Agreement that are relevant to the exhaustion of intellectual property rights is to leave each Member free to establish its own regime for such exhaustion without challenge, subject to the MFN and national treatment provisions of Articles 3 and 4.

6. We recognize that WTO Members with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector could face difficulties in making effective use of compulsory licensing under the TRIPS Agreement. We instruct the Council for TRIPS to find an expeditious solution to this problem and to report to the General Council before the end of 2002."

These provisions in the Declaration ensure that governments may issue compulsory licenses on patents for medicines, or take other steps to protect public health. Jump to: navigation, search A compulsory license is a license to use a patent, copyright, or other exclusive right that a government forces the holder to grant to others. ...

See also

• Doha free trade agreement

External links

• Text of the Doha Declaration (Microsoft Word file from the WTO [[1]]
• WTO explanation of the declaration [[2]]