Intellectual property: agreement on trade-related aspects of rights TRIPS, done at Geneva on 6 December 2005, amending protocol by the WTO

The Council adopted common guidelines on the draft decision aiming to accept, on behalf of the EU, the Protocol amending the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).

This amendment would make permanent a waiver decision on compulsory licences originally adopted in 2003 and will allow any WTO Member to export pharmaceutical products made under a compulsory licence for the purpose of supplying developing countries with insufficient manufacturing capacities. It will ensure a legally secure, predictable, effective and sustainable solution for those countries which want to use the system to get affordable medicines they need.