新冠危机下TRIPS协定豁免的法律争议与中国应对

Waiver from the TRIPS Agreement Under the COVID-19 Crisis:Legal Disputes and China's Responses

印度和南非提出的TRIPS协定豁免议案引发热议。现有的TRIPS协定弹性条款、安全例外以及过渡期条款适用条件严苛,无力应对新冠肺炎疫情及今后类似的公共健康危机。而TRIPS协定豁免允许各成员暂停知识产权保护义务,并由其自行决定是否实施豁免以及豁免的具体范围。TRIPS协定豁免谈判经历了从“印度南非文本”到“欧盟文本”,再到“四方草案”以及最终《WTO决议》的历程,为TRIPS协定弹性条款的实施困难问题提供了临时性解决方案,既促进了强制许可制度的改革,也可激活“介入权”以促进药品可及性,更能推动世界卫生组织“新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划”的知识产权安排透明化和技术共享。中国主动宣布放弃享受豁免,彰显了“大国担当”。中国可考虑继续在制度和行动两方面作出贡献:在制度上,反对发达国家成员使用单边措施干预他国使用强制许可的自主权,并倡导TRIPS理事会采取动态标准认定“有资格进口的成员”,以改善《多哈宣言》机制僵化的局面;在行动上,通过构建全球公共健康技术转让框架来丰富“全球公共产品”倡议。

TRIPS Waiver proposed by India and South Africa sparked a heated debate.The flexibilities,and provisions on security exceptions and transitional periods in the TRIPS Agreement can only be applied under harsh conditions,which are unable to respond to the similar global public health crises in the future.The TRIPS waiver allows WTO members to suspend specific obligations in the TRIPS Agreement-and let them decide whether to implement the waiver and its specific scope.The TRIPS waiver negotiations have gone through the process from "India-South Africa Text"to "EU Text"to "Quad Draft"and finally "WTO Decision".It provides a temporary solution to address the difficulties in implementing TRIPS flexibilities,which not only urges the reform of the compulsory licences in TRIPS Agreement,but also activates the "March-in Right"to promote accessibility of drugs and improves the transparency of COVAX program.After voluntary abstention of related TRIPS flexibilities on COVID-19 vaccines,China can continue to make "China's contribution"to the world in both institutional and operational aspects:institutionally,it could oppose unilateral interference by developed countries in the use of compulsory licensing,and advocate the adoption of dynamic criteria by the TRIPS Council to identify "eligible importers";operationally,it could enrich the global public goods by the construction of a new global technology transfer framework concerning public health.