The legitimacy of the intellectual property (IP) system depends on the correct balance between the public interest and the private privilege given to the IP holders. This balance has been disrupted by a one-size-fits-all global regime in the TRIPS agreement. Yet TRIPS has some flexibilities that can be used. Recently, developed countries have been promoting a TRIPS-Plus agenda that reduces or removes TRIPS flexibilities. Their IP enforcement programme has resulted in legitimate generic drugs of developing countries being seized in European ports while in transit to other developing countries. At the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), developing countries have not accepted the TRIPS-Plus proposals and are protesting against the actions on generic medicines. Issues covered here include the row over generic drug seizures, the recent controversies at the WIPO meeting on Patent Cooperation Treaty, the TRIPS-Plus enforcement agenda, and the move towards a ‘global IP infrastructure’.
Health equity in economic and trade policies
The two-day Mini-Ministerial meeting of 36 trade ministers hosted by India on 3–4 September appears to have concluded with a few proposals on a process to ‘re-energise’ the World Trade Organization Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations, but with no movement on substance. Virtually all developing country groupings endorsed the multilateral approach of negotiations and cautioned against the attempt to subvert the process through bilateral or plurilateral negotiations. They also endorsed the December texts as the basis of negotiations rather than unravelling the texts. This is presumably because the US is demanding even more concessions than what is outlined in the December text. In the corridors on the last day of the meeting on 4 September, one negotiator from an invited country said: ‘Not much has happened here but a discussion on process and reiteration of positions.’ A delegate from a G20 country stated: ‘The US came here, but is in no position to offer anything. They are demanding that we open the text and give more market access, but are not willing to offer anything in return.'
The statement covers the cooperation in the Southern African Development Community-European Community (SADC-EC) economic partnership agreement, and the implications for regional integration in Southern Africa. The statement proposes support for regional integration and development in Southern Africa, based on the 1999 Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement (TDCA). The first Revision Agreement, which together with the Joint Action Plan for the SA-EU Strategic Partnership is argued to lay the ground for an enhanced and deepened relationship in existing and new areas of cooperation, including migration, health, space, energy, information and communication technologies (ICT) and maritime transport.
The major objectives of this paper are to analyse the inter-relationship among economic growth, inequality and poverty and to propose a typology of countries within sub-Saharan Africa based on the different initial conditions they face and that can be used to derive appropriate development strategies. In particular, an attempt is made at deriving distinct strategies that embrace growth patterns that are likely to reduce poverty in each separate group of countries. The choice of the most appropriate development strategy is clearly context-specific and, ultimately, has to be shaped at the individual country level. Yet, the advantage of a typology is to highlight and emphasises the importance of those key and distinct conditions and features that influence the development paths of different categories of countries sharing relatively similar conditions. In order to understand better the anatomy of the development process, the changing structure of growth throughout this process has to be explored. In a continent where most countries are still at an early development stage and where the majority of the people reside in rural areas and are employed in agriculture, understanding the structural transformation process and the role of agriculture as a potential engine of growth is of fundamental importance.
To date, claims about the likely development effects of economic partnership agreements (EPAs) have been speculative because the final details of the agreements were unknown. The conclusion of a full EPA with the CARIFORUM region and interim EPAs (IEPAs) with some African and Pacific states makes it possible to analyse what has actually been agreed and to assess the potential development effects. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the African IEPAs as they stand in early 2009. It also establishes the negotiations that remain to be completed and the challenges facing Africa in implementation, some of which require support from Europe. It provides both a summary of the principle features of very complex documents and also the foundations for the many follow-up studies that will be needed to look in more detail at specific country, sectoral and other specific features of the IEPAs.
This report presents the latest trends in patents, trademarks and copyrights. Patents, which are of direct relevance to drug prices and procurement, showed a slowdown in growth rate, with fewer patent filings and grants. In 2007, patent filings increased 3.7%, compared to a 5.2% increase in the previous year. Despite this slowdown, around 1.85 million applications were filed across the world in 2007. The figures show the early effects of the global economic downturn on patent filings and the available data for 2008 point toward a further slowdown in patent filings. Patent filings and grants have also become more concentrated. In other words, the majority of patent filings are from residents of industrialised countries and there is a strong relationship between the volume of patent filings and the level of GDP and investment in research and development. Residents of Japan and the United States own approximately 47% of the 6.3 million patents in force across the world. Since the late 1990s, patent filings have grown at a faster rate than patent grants (or rejections) in most offices, most notably at the patent office of the US. As a result, the number of unexamined (pending) patent applications has increased.
This policy paper deals primarily with the effect of globalisation on Botswana’s workforce and includes a discussion of occupational health and safety (OHS) within this framework. It notes that, in general, the effective monitoring of health standards is absent in Botswana. The Labour Inspectorate is a government unit under the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs. It operates under the Factories Act that came into force in 1979. However, there are only a handful and overburdened of labour inspectors carrying OHS inspections to verify compliance with the relevant law. In other cases, some international labour standards ratified have not been backed up by legislation. For example, despite being a heavily mining dependent country, the International Labour Organisation’s convention 176, which deals with health and safety in the mines, has not been enacted at all, notwithstanding its ratification almost a decade ago. The government, like in many other cases continues to gloss over this very serious matter.
With governments looking to close the long-stalled Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks in 2010, what will happen to remaining disagreements on intellectual property issues is still unclear. A coalition of governments seeking IP amendments is determined to have some kind of result at the end the round. The coalition, a group of 110 countries, is often referred to as “W/52” supporters after a compromise document the group created uniting states who were fighting for disclosure of origin on genetic resources with states fighting for stronger genetic information (GI) protection. A great deal of hope is being placed in this informal process by the W/52 proponents, who seek changes they argue are critical to prevent the misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge, and to protect key agricultural products. But those who do not support W/52 say the connection between GI extension and the disclosure of origin amendment, which emerged from a mandate to examine the relationship between TRIPS and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, is not justified, as the issues are too different.
Construction health and safety has long been the focus of attention of many industry stakeholders and role-players in South Africa, and while it is acknowledged that many industry associations and professional societies, contracting organisations and others have made significant efforts to improve health and safety within the construction industry, overall, construction health and safety is not improving significantly. Notably, construction continues to contribute a disproportionate number of fatalities and injuries, and there continues to be a high level of non-compliance with the health and safety regulations in South Africa. Against this context, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) has undertaken this report on the status of construction health and safety in South Africa, so as to provide a context for the efforts and actions of industry stakeholders and role-players in improving construction health and safety – including those of the CIDB.
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has concluded a month-long coordinating body meeting in Geneva by adopting resolutions on a range of public policy issues such as internet connectivity, science and technology, and HIV/AIDS. However, the digital divide and the lack of global access to AIDS treatments seriously hinder developing countries’ prospects for development, participants say. They underlined the importance of information and communications technologies (ICTs), as well as science and engineering, in the context of development and in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. ECOSOC recommended mainstream ICTs to promote growth and sustainable development as it adopted, without a vote, a resolution on the assessment of the progress made in the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society and its follow-up. The Council asked its stakeholders to assist developing countries to reduce the digital divide.