From: 
@msf.org> 
Sent: 
jeudi 19 novembre 2020 11:03 
To: 
 (TRADE); PRAINSACK Ines (CAB-KYRIAKIDES); 
 (TRADE); 
 (GROW); 
 (GROW); CAB DOMBROVSKIS 
CONTACT; MELNGAILE Elina (CAB-DOMBROVSKIS); 
 
(SANTE); CAB KYRIAKIDES CONTACT; CAB LENARCIC 
CONTACT; 
@ec.europa.eu; 
 
(SANTE); GALLINA Sandra (SANTE) 
Cc: 
; 
; 
; 
 
Subject: 
Joint CSO letter to the European Parliament- Over 100 civil 
society organization's call on the EP to support COVID-19 
WTO TRIPS waiver 
Attachments: 
Joint CSO letter to EP on Covid19 WTO TRIPS Waiver.pdf; 
MSF-Background doc-TRIPS waiver-Oct-2020-Final.pdf 
Dear all, 
 
Kindly note that this morning an open letter signed by more than 100 civil 
society organisations was sent to the European Parliament's Trade, Health and 
Development Committees calling to support a proposal for 
a temporary waiver from certain intellectual property  (IP) provisions under the 
agreements on Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) for COVID-19 medical 
technologies, as proposed by India, South Africa, Eswatini and Kenya. 

The waiver aims to ensure governments have an additional flexibility to address IP barriers and 
to facilitate production and supply of COVID-19 medical tools to  ensure sufficient access 
and availability during the time of the pandemic.  The European Union, represented by the 
European Commission, strongly opposed the tabled waiver proposal at the WTO TRIPS 
council.  The letter is asking the European Parliament and national parliaments of EU 
member states to express support for the waiver proposal and ask the EU 
(EC) to reconsider its firm opposition to the proposal. The waiver proposal will be discussed 
again at the WTO in the coming days and weeks.
 
Signatories include civil society organizations from Europe and the Global South and 
international NGOs as Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign, Health Action 
International, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Oxfam. 
 
In addition to the letter you can find a briefing document on the waiver proposal, developed 
by Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign. 
 
Do not hesitate to reach out in case of any questions. 
 
Thank you for your consideration 
 

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Sincerely, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Médecins Sans Frontières | Doctors Without Borders 
 T : +
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Twitter: 
| E : 
x@xxx.xxx | www.msfaccess.org 
 

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