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15 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 9 JUNE 2021 EUROPE ically fabricate their products in large volumes for export to mul- tiple countries – something diffi- cult to do under existing TRIPS rules. EU Accused of Delaying Text- Based Negotiations Last month, China and Russia voiced support for the waiver, and in a surprise move on 5 May, the US broke ranks with the EU and Japan, announcing its sup- port for text-based negotiations on removing IP and patents for COVID-19 vaccines only – as op- posed to "products and technolo- gies" proposed by the waiver. "The Administration believes strongly in intellectual proper- ty protections, but in service of ending this pandemic, supports the waiver of those protections for COVID-19 vaccines," said US Trade Ambassador Katherine Tai. "We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the WTO needed to make that hap- pen." In the wake of the United States announcement on 5 May that it would support an IP waiver, at least for COVID vaccines, waiv- er advocates have turned up the heat on the EU, whose member states are now widely perceived as the key remaining barrier to some kind of compromise text on the IP waiver initiative. They also stress that time is of the essence. "In addition to muddying the water and diverting attention, the EU is also hoping that its emp- ty-package compulsory licensing proposals will delay text-based negotiations of a waiver agree- ment so long that implementing the waiver would be economical- ly impractical for alternative pro- ducers and countries," said Pro- fessor Brook Baker, Senior Policy Analyst for Health GAP. 'Necessary and Proportionate' In an pre-print paper, London School of Economics Associate Professor of Intellectual Prop- erty Law Siva Thambisetty and colleagues argue that the TRIPS waiver "is a necessary and pro- portionate legal measure for clearing intellectual property (IP) barriers in a direct, consist- ent and efficient fashion, ena- bling the freedom to operate for more companies to produce COVID-19 vaccines and other health technologies without the fear of infringing another par- ty's IP rights and the attendant threat of litigation". "The phenomenon of COV- ID-19 'vaccine nationalism' has brought into sharp relief the misalignment of current legal and financial incentives to pro- duce and distribute vaccines eq- uitably," they argue. "The crisis further demon- strates the failure of high-in- come countries (HICs) to realise the promise they made at the time of the TRIPS negotiations in 1994, that by agreeing to the terms of TRIPS, lower and mid- dle-income countries (LMICs) would benefit from technology transfer and the building of pro- ductive capacity." Widening Support in Global Health Community Broader recognition of the fail- ure has also helped drive a se- ries of high-level expressions of support for the waiver propos- al from the mainstream global health community including the Bill and Melinda Gates Founda- tion. Even WTO Director-Gener- al Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has stressed the need to "get to a conclusion on this [TRIPS waiv- er] debate, promote technology transfer and know-how to get lasting increases in production capacity". Whether the next two days of talks in the TRIPS Council go in circles yet again or make pro- gress towards text-based negoti- ations depends largely on waiver opponents – most notably, the EU, Japan and Brazil. Meanwhile, the easiest way for vaccine manufacturers to pre- empt the "threat" of the waiver would be for developed coun- tries to massively share existing vaccine doses – and for manu- facturers to pledge more pro- duction to the World Health Organization's COVAX global vaccine facility. Calls for both were issued again on Monday by WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Tedros also called upon phar- maceutical companies to join the WHO's COVID-19 Tech- nology Access Pool (C-TAP) and Technology Transfer Hub, sharing their know-how volun- tarily and entering into licensing agreements with other global manufacturers to speed up vac- cine production and access. With or Without Waiver – WHO Pushes Ahead on Vaccine Tech- nology Transfers Meanwhile, Tedros said at Monday's WHO press brief- ing, WHO is also moving ahead on measures that aim to build longer-term capacity for tech- nology transfer to developing countries, including an "mRNA Vaccine Technology Transfer Hub". "Two months ago, WHO also issued a call for expressions of interest to establish an mRNA technology transfer hub to facil- itate increased global production of mRNA vaccines," said Tedros. He said that a technical review of expressions of interest from com- panies interested in transferring their technology, and countries wanting to receive the technology was being conducted. "We continue to call on com- panies with mRNA technology to share it through the COVID 19 technology access pool. The result can be a win-win for both the owner of the know-how as well as for public health," added Tedros. "The biggest barrier to ending the pandemic remains sharing: of doses, of resources, of tech- nology." This article is part of a content series called Ewropej. This is a multi- newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. These articles reflect only the authors' view. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.