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Matthew Yeo

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On 2 October 2020, India and South Africa submitted to the Council for Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (“TRIPS”) of the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) a proposed waiver from the implementation, application and enforcement of intellectual property (“IP”) rights under the WTO TRIPS Agreement (“COVID Waiver”) insofar as these rights relate to the prevention, containment, and treatment of COVID-19.  In essence, the COVID Waiver would allow WTO Members to forgo some protections of IP rights set out in the TRIPS Agreement in the hope that this waiver could speed up the production of affordable medical products including COVID diagnostic kits, vaccines, medicines, personal protective equipment and ventilators.

The proposed COVID Waiver has divided the WTO Membership.  While a majority of WTO Members have expressed support for the COVID Waiver, some developed countries (such as the EU, Korea, Japan, Australia and Singapore) have expressed reservations as to whether the COVID Waiver is necessary and whether it would actually help achieve the aim that it is intended to serve.…

Continue Reading Tensions Between Consensus and Voting in WTO Decision-Making – Part II: The Proposed Waiver on TRIPS and COVID-19

There exists a deep-seated practice and tradition of resorting to consensus as the favoured means of decision-making at the World Trade Organization (WTO).  This practice was carried over from the time of its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).  This marked preference for decision-making by consensus over voting has been enshrined in Article IX:1 of the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the WTO (Marrakesh Agreement) which provides that: “[t]he WTO shall continue the practice of decision-making by consensus followed under GATT 1947”.

However, Article IX:1 of the Marrakesh Agreement also states that: “[e]xcept as otherwise provided, where a decision cannot be arrived at by consensus, the matter at issue shall be decided by voting”.

Thus, while the Marrakesh Agreement formally recognizes consensus as the preferred means of decision-making, it also clearly recognizes the validity of taking decisions by voting as a subsidiary means when consensus is unattainable on any given matter.

As an added twist to decision-making at the WTO, Article IX:1 of the Marrakesh Agreement also establishes that: “[d]ecisions of the Ministerial Conference and the General Council shall be taken by a majority of the votes cast”.  In other words, majority voting was intended to be the default means of decision-making for the Ministerial Conference (MC) and the General Council (GC).

Nevertheless, in practice, voting at the WTO never takes place.  Instead, WTO Members have strictly adhered to consensus since the WTO’s inception.

In this three-part series, we intend to explore how the WTO Membership’s traditional aversion to voting as a means of decision-making is coming under fire and putting a strain on the proper functioning of the WTO.

Each part will in turn discuss the following three instances where significant pressure is currently building up on consensus as the exclusive means of decision-making at the WTO: (i) the appointment of Appellate Body (AB) members; (ii) the proposed decision to waive certain provisions of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) with regard to combatting COVID-19; and (iii) the outcomes of negotiations on e-commerce, investment facilitation, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and the domestic regulation of services conducted as “joint statement initiatives” (JSIs).

This first instalment of our three-part series will focus on the appointment of AB members.…

Continue Reading Tensions Between Consensus and Voting in WTO Decision-Making – Part I: Appointing Appellate Body Members