TWN Info Service on Intellectual Property Issues
30 September 2024
Third World Network
www.twn.my

International IP system contributes to new inequalities, says UN Committee for Development Policy

Geneva 30 September (Srinath Namboodiri) – The report of the Committee for Development Policy (CDP) to the twenty-sixth session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), which was convened in March 2024 calls out on the current international intellectual property (IP) system for contributing to new inequalities.

The report’s second chapter, “Innovation Ecosystems for Development, Structural Change and Equity” conveys the following four broad messages:

• The potential of technological innovation for development is underutilized, which requires a reassessment of domestic and international policy frameworks;
• Intellectual property rights are one of the key policy levers in a functioning innovation ecosystem that can advance development, structural change and equity, and build resilience to crises;
• Developing countries can make more effective use of the existing policy space to pursue priorities for development, equity and productive capacity; and
• The global system to support innovation for development needs to be reassessed to be made fit-for-purpose to ensure innovation for global and regional public goods and for countries to address the challenges of the twenty-first century

CDP’s analysis addresses “the challenges and opportunities of innovation ecosystems for development, structural change and equity”. The mandate for the CDP came from the Political Declaration of the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development under the auspices of the UN General Assembly in 2023 whereby Member States committed to “bridging the science, technology and innovation divides and the responsible use of science, technology and innovation as drivers of sustainable development and to build the capacities necessary for sustainable transformations” and to “take action to enhance the ability to develop countries to benefit from science, technology, and innovation and address the major structural impediments to accessing new and emerging technologies”.

Re-assessment of domestic and international policy including IP

The Report recognizes the potential of technology in advancing sustainable development and the potential of technology to “increase productivity, advance inclusion, build resilience against crises” but notes the underutilization of the technology. According to the CDP:

“Critical gaps include the undersupply of technologies for many development priorities; extreme concentration of global science, technology and innovation investments and capacity in a few countries; and weak science, technology and innovation capacity and knowledge assets in most developing countries, despite the emergence of China and other global South countries as poles of innovation”.

The Report further states: “There are severe inequities, including social and gender inequities, in both access to science, technology and innovation opportunities, such as education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and the outputs of science, technology and innovation systems”.

The Report states that the longstanding challenges of the developing countries became acute due to the knowledge economy driven by knowledge assets and dominated by IP monopolies.

Role of IP in advancing development, structural changes and resilience

The Report reminds us that “Innovation is not an end in itself but serves multiple ends that extend beyond economic growth, including structural change, meeting social and environmental goals and building resilience against crises.”.

It terms IP as one of the public policy tools in the innovation ecosystem but that the current IP system is dysfunctional, especially in the context of equitable and sustainable development.

CDP reasons that the current IP the system is biased towards the right holders over users, failing its social ends.  The CDP highlights that “Intellectual property protection often far exceeds what would be necessary to incentivize innovation, leading to high prices and an undersupply of public goods and reducing the global dissemination of the benefits of innovation, which contributes to new inequalities”.

CDP notes that developing countries are not in a position to use the flexibilities because they “… face obstacles in making use of flexibilities owing to gaps in information, trade sanctions and other forms of political pressure…”. In this regard, the Committee states that the primary step to remedy the current dysfunctional intellectual property system would be to review its administrative (and political) and legal obstacles.

Need to use policy space for development, equity and productive capacity

CDP while recognizing the role of IP in advancing development also recognizes the role of flexibilities in achieving development, equity and productive capacity, and calls for a review of the administrative and legal obstacles to the effective implementation of flexibilities in IP system.  The report states: “… flexibilities can be utilized more proactively for public priorities, for example to reduce the cost of medicines as part of a pandemic response strategy. The first step would be to review the administrative and legal obstacles to the effective implementation of flexibilities.”

CDP also identifies the concentration of clean technology IP rights as a challenge to the energy transition in developing countries along with other challenges such as limited finance, the concentration of supply chains and unilateral environment-related trade measures.

Need to revamp IP and innovation systems

CDP points to how the present IP model, founded in the 1980s and 1990s, is not adequate to fulfil the critical needs of the 21^st century such as planetary shocks like climate change and pandemics. It calls for a collaborative research and development model such as the  CGIAR partnership of 15 research centres (formerly the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) to address “climate change and to promote the expansion of research and development in developing countries”.

Noting that the implementation of the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) administered by the World Trade Organization Agreement has not provided desired results on technology transfer and development outcomes, CDP calls upon various international organizations with a mandate of development to provide support to developing countries for the deployment of IP as a development tool, including the use of flexibilities. It states:

“The challenges of science, technology and innovation and the role of intellectual property frameworks are a neglected issue in international organizations with a mandate for development. Such organizations should provide developing countries with proactive support at the country level for the development of intellectual property architecture and policy frameworks, for the deployment of intellectual property as a development policy tool, and for the implementation of TRIPS flexibilities and other measures to pursue public interest”.

The CDP report calls for the reform of the global IP system to address inequity at a time when countries are engaged in negotiations on a pandemic agreement at the World Health Organization, and in the process of a review of the TRIPS Agreement.+