Minister of State Hardeep Singh Puri. (File Photo- PIB)
New Delhi: India and South Africa have submitted a proposal for waiver from certain provisions of the Trade-Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement for the prevention, treatment, and containment of COVID-19, to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) TRIPS Council on 2nd October 2020, said Minister of State in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Hardeep Singh Puri in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
The objective of the proposal is to ensure that the intellectual property rights do not create a hurdle in rapid scaling up of manufacturing capacities throughout the globe to meet the objective of equitable, timely, and affordable access for all to vaccines, therapeutics, and other goods required to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic added the minister.
After the submission to the TRIPS Council in October 2020, the waiver proposal has now been co-sponsored by 57 WTO members with many members supporting from the floor. The waiver proposal has also received support from civil society groups and the World Health Organisation. (PR)
