TRIPS Agreement has been an important driver of the global standardisation of legal protection of pharmaceuticals with intellectual property rights. For the cases of emergency, where the public interest must prevail over private rights, the Agreement provides for the use of compulsory licensing granted on a country-by-country basis. The Covid-19 pandemic created the need to accelerate the production and distribution of patented vaccines, medicines, and medical equipment simultaneously all around the world. The WTO is therefore considering a proposal to temporarily exempt all member states from the obligation to respect intellectual property rights under the TRIPS Agreement in the wake of the global health crisis in order to remove legal barriers to fair access to vaccines and medicines worldwide. The paper presents measures for the protection of public health under the TRIPS Agreement, as well as their shortcomings, and analyses how the proposed waiver of intellectual property rights would operate in domestic law.
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