China notified the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday
that it had ratified the Protocol Amending the Agreement on
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).
Chinese Ambassador Sun Zhenyu sent a notification letter to WTO
Director-General Pascal Lamy together with the instrument of
ratification signed by President Hu Jintao and Foreign Minister
Yang Jiechi, said the Chinese mission to the WTO.
The Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement, done at Geneva on
December 6 2005, means to allow WTO members to export patented
medicines to third countries with no manufacturing capacity in the
pharmaceutical sector, by making use of compulsory licenses.
"China believes that this amendment of the TRIPS Agreement is
part of the wider national and international actions to address the
public health problems afflicting many developing countries,
particularly the least-developed countries," the Chinese mission
said in a statement.
"In ratifying the protocol, China has showed its consistent
commitment to the WTO's development objective and its support for
developing members' legitimate right to protect public health and
gain improved access to medicines," the statement said.
The protocol will only enter into force once two thirds of the
WTO's 151 members have accepted it. China is the 13th WTO member to
have accepted it.
(Xinhua News Agency November 29, 2007)
