病毒共享的国际法思考

Consideration on Virus Sharing in International Law

从条约解释角度而言,病毒材料构成国家主权管辖范围内的"遗传资源"或"自然资源",但其获取是否应遵循"事先知情同意"原则尚存在争议。国际专利体制激励基于病毒材料的医药研发,并不直接导致生物剽窃或医药可及性难题,但问题在于没有规定病毒材料的所有权和获取条件,故存在保护上的不对称性。从本质上说,病毒共享之争体现国际法上分配正义的缺失,故无法破解全球公共卫生难题,促进发展中国家履行健康权。为此,《国际卫生条例》需进一步明确健康权的国际责任,构建公平的"材料转移"机制。我国既要推动国际法上分配正义的实现和相关制度的非倾覆性变革,也可结合自身国情和优势发挥更大的建设性作用。

From the perspective of treaty interpretation,virus sample belongs to genetic resource or natural resource, which is subject to the sovereignty of states in international law, but it is controversy that whether the access to virus samples should comply with the principle of ＇ prior informed consent＇ in CBD. The current patent system is, in fact, not the reason of the developing countries＇ difficulty in accessibility to medicine, but it doesn＇ t establish the ownership of virus samples and its access and benefit sharing. So the international protection between patent and biomaterial is unsymmetrical and unsustainable. In essence, the emerging problem about virus sharing reflects the dilemma of global public health for the shortage of distribution justice in international law. IHR should establish clearly the international obligation to the right to health, and construct a reasonable international system of ＇ Material Transfer＇ based on equity principle. China may play a more constructive role in the undisruptive innovation of international law system involved.