WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION
WT/MIN(01)/DEC/W/2
14 November 2001
(01-5770)
MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
Fourth Session
Doha, 9 - 14 November 2001

DECLARATION ON THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND PUBLIC HEALTH

1. We recognize the gravity of the public health problems
afflicting many developing and least-developed countries,
especially those resulting from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis,
malaria and other epidemics.

2. We stress the need for the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) to
be part of the wider national and international action to
address these problems.

3. We recognize that intellectual property protection is
important for the development of new medicines. We also
recognize the concerns about its effects on prices.

4. We agree that the TRIPS Agreement does not and should not
prevent Members from taking measures to protect public health.
Accordingly, while reiterating our commitment to the TRIPS
Agreement, we affirm that the Agreement can and should be
interpreted and implemented in a manner supportive of WTO
Members' right to protect public health and, in particular, to
promote access to medicines for all.

In this connection, we reaffirm the right of WTO Members to
use, to the full, the provisions in the TRIPS Agreement, which
provide flexibility for this purpose.

5. Accordingly and in the light of paragraph 4 above, while
maintaining our commitments in the TRIPS Agreement, we
recognize that these flexibilities include:

(a) In applying the customary rules of interpretation of
public international law, each provision of the TRIPS
Agreement shall be read in the light of the object and purpose
of the Agreement as expressed, in particular, in its
objectives and principles.

(b) Each Member has the right to grant compulsory licences and
the freedom to determine the grounds upon which such licences
are granted.

(c) Each Member has the right to determine what constitutes a
national emergency or other circumstances of extreme urgency,
it being understood that public health crises, including those
relating to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other
epidemics, can represent a national emergency or other
circumstances of extreme urgency.

(d) The effect of the provisions in the TRIPS Agreement that
are relevant to the exhaustion of intellectual property rights
is to leave each Member free to establish its own regime for
such exhaustion without challenge, subject to the MFN and
national treatment provisions of Articles 3 and 4.

6. We recognize that WTO Members with insufficient or no
manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector could
face difficulties in making effective use of compulsory
licensing under the TRIPS Agreement. We instruct the Council
for TRIPS to find an expeditious solution to this problem and
to report to the General Council before the end of 2002.

7. We reaffirm the commitment of developed-country Members to
provide incentives to their enterprises and institutions to
promote and encourage technology transfer to least-developed
country Members pursuant to Article 66.2. We also agree that
the least-developed country Members will not be obliged, with
respect to pharmaceutical products, to implement or apply
Sections 5 and 7 of Part II of the TRIPS Agreement or to
enforce rights provided for under these Sections until 1
January 2016, without prejudice to the right of least-
developed country Members to seek other extensions of the
transition periods as provided for in Article 66.1 of the
TRIPS Agreement. We instruct the Council for TRIPS to take the
necessary action to give effect to this pursuant to Article
66.1 of the TRIPS Agreement.