How should WTO member states respond to the issue of access to Essay

How should WTO member states respond to the issue of access to medicines as provided for in the DOHA AGREEMENT for trips - Essay Example European Union: European Parliament , EU Motion For Resolution Cases: Thai Cigarette Case India- Mailbox Case 3 Abstract The issue of access to medicines is an important, strategic issue which if not answered immediately will entail loss of million of lives. At the moment, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is raging like wild bushfire in Africa. In Kenya alone, 300 people die daily because of AIDS while1.5 million people carry the HIV virus . In other countries, the statistics are even more mind-boggling. The Doha Agreement on TRIPS and the strict intellectual property laws on patents had been pinpointed as at the heart of the failure to access medicines needed to treat HIV, TB, malaria and other diseases prevalent in LDCs or least developed countries. This paper traces the history of the Doha Agreement and finds solutions to the problem of accessibility pointing out weaknesses in the TRIPS Agreement. Finally, it suggests ways of how WTO member states be able to do their part in ensuring that millions of lives be saved by a steady supply of affordable, generic drugs to LCDS and how these can be encouraged to manuf acture their own drugs using compulsory licenses easily obtainable through TRIPS provisions and furthermore export these drugs to other LCDs similarly situated as them. Introduction International trade in the olden days was often marked with conflicts, disputes or even violence that threatened sprouting of wars between contracting nations. Thus,... International trade in the olden days was often marked with conflicts, disputes or even violence that threatened sprouting of wars between contracting nations. Thus, the lex mercatoria or law merchant came into being to govern international trade, all international merchants and especially monopolistic chartered companies such as the East India Company, South Sea Company and the Hudson Bay Company which needed to be reined over to protect small-scale merchants . Suddenly, international commercial arbitration governed by lex mercatoria was utilised to settle international trade disputes. Here, an aritrator applied the usages and customs of international trade and the â€Å"rules of law which are common to all or most of the states engaged in international trade† . But despite this, the problem of diversity of sales laws in some 200 trading countries, forum shopping by nations in dispute, no level playing field, high transaction costs demanded that conflict rules of internationa l law be applied to avoid rising incidents of disputes. As international trade metamorphosed into a highly complex trade deals that involved tariffs and non-tariff barriers, dumping of goods, trade in services, trade in intellectual property, patents, trademarks, copyright rights etc., institutions designed to supervise, police and liberalise international trade as well as negotiate and implement trade agreements, had to be established. Moreover, as authors Trebilcock and Howse pointed out, there was an imperative need to regulate international trade because a favourable balance of trade had to be perpetually maintained and this meant formulating policies that encouraged aggressive exportation while at the same time restricted importation.