Covid vaccines, EU to WTO: “Facilitating compulsory licenses”

The European Union today presented its proposal to expand the production of anti-Covid vaccines to the World Trade Organization. The Union recommends governments, among other things, to “facilitate the use of compulsory licenses within the current Trips agreement (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, ed), which provides this flexibility”. Compulsory licensing, the Commission stresses, is “a legitimate tool in the pandemic and can be used quickly if needed”.