From proposal to compromise: the TRIPS waiver debate and the crisis of WTO decision-making
Nirmalya Syam, Muhammad Zaheer Abbas · 2025
Read From proposal to compromise: the TRIPS waiver debate and the crisis of WTO decision-making by Nirmalya Syam, Muhammad Zaheer Abbas (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-12821828.txt.
Description
Nirmalya Syam and Muhammad Zaheer Abbas revisit, in a 2025 paper, the World Trade Organization fight over patent rights during the COVID-19 pandemic. India and South Africa had proposed a broad waiver of trade-related patent duties so vaccines could be made more widely. After twenty months of talks, ministers adopted a far narrower decision in June 2022.
Members then deadlocked on whether to extend the decision to COVID tests and treatments, though the decision set a six-month deadline for that call. Syam and Abbas argue the extension was both fitting and needed. They also propose ways for poorer countries to use patent flexibilities without waiting on waiver talks, and reforms that would let waiver decisions be made fast in future emergencies.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Nirmalya Syam, Muhammad Zaheer Abbas |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 86 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |