What agenda for the review of TRIPS?: A sustainable development perspective

The document argues that the TRIPS Agreement is imbalanced, favoring producers and Northern countries over consumers and Southern countries, which undermines sustainable development. It analyzes the Doha Ministerial Declaration's role in addressing public health, the need for technology transfer to least-developed countries, and the conflicts between TRIPS and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). The author advocates for the protection of traditional knowledge through sui generis systems and the requirement of prior informed consent for the use of genetic resources in patent applications.

• The TRIPS Agreement is described as imbalanced because it shifts control of knowledge from consumers to producers and from Southern to Northern countries, potentially hindering access to drugs, technology transfer, and the implementation of international environmental agreements like the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
• The Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health provides developing countries with more flexibility to interpret TRIPS in relation to health and exempts least-developed country Members from implementing or enforcing Sections 5 and 7 of Part II of the TRIPS Agreement regarding pharmaceutical products until 1 January 2016.
• There are significant conflicts between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD, specifically that TRIPS allows private patents on genetic resources subject to sovereign rights and permits patents regardless of whether genetic material or traditional knowledge was accessed without prior informed consent and benefit sharing.
• To prevent the illegal access of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, the author proposes amending Article 27.3b and 29 of the TRIPS Agreement to mandate the disclosure of the origin of genetic material.
• Traditional knowledge is characterized by features such as oral transmission, collective ownership, and a lack of material incorporation, making it unsuitable for existing IPR regimes; therefore, it is best protected by an effective sui generis system.
• The document identifies several implementation issues under negotiation, including the extension of the TRIPS implementation period for least-developed countries, the operationalization of Articles 7 and 8, and a moratorium on non-violation complaints to prevent constraints on vital social, health, and environmental measures.

APA

Eugui, D. V. (n.d.). What agenda for the review of TRIPS?: A sustainable development perspective. Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/AgendaTrips_Summer02.pdf

Chicago

Eugui, David Vivas. What agenda for the review of TRIPS?: A sustainable development perspective. Center for International Environmental Law, n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/AgendaTrips_Summer02.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Eugui |first1=David Vivas |title=What agenda for the review of TRIPS?: A sustainable development perspective |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/AgendaTrips_Summer02.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{euguindwhat, author = {Eugui, David Vivas}, title = {{What agenda for the review of TRIPS?: A sustainable development perspective}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/AgendaTrips_Summer02.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }