The IELP blog has highlighted the use of labour provisions in the USMCA in the USTR's Senate Committee testimony hearing here.
What I found also interesting is the questions on the IP waiver policy and USTR's response to them in the Senate hearing. A must watch to understand the dynamics of the IP waiver proposal and the challenges ahead!
Questions of crushing innovation, precedent in IP waivers during the HIV crisis, Congress approval, geo-politics, need for text based negotiations, consensus at the WTO, need to save lives and pharma companies having the chance to be heros as well as addressing the pandemic - watch the whole session.
Two precedents were cited wherein similar "waivers" were put in place - 2001 Agreement and PEPFAR. While one is the Doha Declaration on Public Health, the other is the Presidents program on Emergencies. Not sure how they are TRIPS waiver related. We will have to wait and see how these transalte into negotiating positions.
No comments:
Post a Comment