The Legislative Yuan approved the first reading of an amendment to a WTO agreement yesterday, which will allow Taiwanese pharmaceutical companies to make cheaper generic drugs for underdeveloped countries to combat fatal diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and bird flu.
The WTO initiative, called Protocol Amending the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), will make it easier for poorer countries to import cheaper generic drugs made under compulsory licensing if they are unable to manufacture the medicines themselves.
The amendment to TRIPS Article 31 regarding compulsory licensing, which was approved by WTO member states in August 2005, authorizes pharmaceutical companies in WTO countries, if requested, to manufacture and export cheaper generic drugs to least developed countries, without having to pay the patent holders.
“Following the Cabinet’s approval of this amendment last month, the final approval from lawmakers will allow the government to report Taiwan’s TRIPS acceptance to the WTO Secretariat through Taiwan’s mission to WTO in Geneva,” said Wang Mei-hua (王美花), director-general of the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Intellectual Property Office (IPO).
The WTO’s General Council has asked all member nations to obtain approval from their own lawmakers and to notify it no later than Dec. 31 next year. Once two-thirds of members have formally accepted it, the amendment will take effect in those states.
The IPO head said that final approval of the amendment could be settled in about two months.
“At present, 15 of the 151 WTO member states have notified the WTO of their acceptance, including the US, the EU, Japan, China, Australia and South Korea,” she said.
Wang said Taiwan will also have to revise its patent regulations to accommodate the new TRIPS regulations.
“The bureau has drafted a revision of the patent statute, which will also be reviewed by the legislature at some point,” she said.
Wang said that once the legal grounds for the amendment are established, Taiwan would be able to contribute more to the international community, particularly to poor countries that have little or no technological or financial ability to offer advanced medical treatment.
“With its advanced pharmaceutical ability, Taiwan could offer assistance especially to its 23 diplomatic alliances, most of which are underdeveloped countries,” she said.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
The US government on Wednesday sanctioned more than two dozen companies in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, including offshoots of a US chip firm, accusing the businesses of providing illicit support to Iran’s military or proxies. The US Department of Commerce included two subsidiaries of US-based chip distributor Arrow Electronics Inc (艾睿電子) on its so-called entity list published on the federal register for facilitating purchases by Iran’s proxies of US tech. Arrow spokesman John Hourigan said that the subsidiaries have been operating in full compliance with US export control regulations and his company is discussing with the US Bureau of
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
Pegatron Corp (和碩), a key assembler of Apple Inc’s iPhones, on Thursday reported a 12.3 percent year-on-year decline in revenue for last quarter to NT$257.86 billion (US$8.44 billion), but it expects revenue to improve in the second half on traditional holiday demand. The fourth quarter is usually the peak season for its communications products, a company official said on condition of anonymity. As Apple released its new iPhone 17 series early last month, sales in the communications segment rose sequentially last month, the official said. Shipments to Apple have been stable and in line with earlier expectations, they said. Pegatron shipped 2.4 million notebook
RSS