The World Trade Organization (WTO) 12th Ministerial Conference took place from 12 to 17 June 2022 at WTO headquarters in Geneva. Ministers from across the world attended to review the functioning of the multilateral trading system, to make general statements and to take action on the future work of the WTO.
WTO members successfully concluded the conference securing multilaterally negotiated outcomes on a series of key trade initiatives, among them a Ministerial Decision on the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. The full decision can be find here.
Member states agreed on a deal that temporarily removes intellectual property barriers around patents for COVID-19 vaccines, and postpone the discussions on extending the waiver to treatments and tests by six months. It allows low- and middle-income countries to temporarily waive protections on those patents to produce the vaccines, either to use domestically or to send abroad.
