Senegal, Uruguay ratify WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement
Senegal and Uruguay have ratified the WTO, the World Trade Organisation’s TFA, the Trade Facilitation Agreement. The submission of the instruments of acceptance means that nearly 85 % of the ratifications needed to bring the TFA into force have now been received, and Peru signals acceptance of TRIPS
Peru deposited its instrument of acceptance for the 2005 protocol amending the WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on September 13, 2016. Ambassador Luis Enrique Chávez Basagoitia of Peru presented his country’s instrument of acceptance to WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo.
The protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement, which was agreed in 2005, is intended to formalize a decision to ease poorer WTO members’ access to affordable medicines. The protocol allows exporting countries to grant compulsory licences (one that is granted without the patent holder’s consent) to their generic suppliers to manufacture and export medicines to countries that cannot manufacture the needed medicines themselves. These licences were originally limited to predominantly supplying the domestic market.
Over 63 % of WTO members have submitted their instruments of acceptance for the TRIPS protocol. The protocol will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted it.