By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, FEB 12, 2016: THAILAND deposited its instrument of acceptance for the 2005 protocol amending the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) on 28 January 2016, becoming the third WTO member to do so in 2016. Thailand accepted the amendment after several years of debate at the national level.

Mali (on 20 January) and Lesotho (on 4 January) are the other two members that have accepted the amendment this year. The protocol will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted it.  

The protocol amending the TRIPS Agreement, which was adopted in 2005, is intended to make it easier for poorer WTO members to access affordable medicines. The protocol allows exporting countries to grant compulsory licenses (one that is granted without the patent holder's consent) to their generic suppliers to manufacture and export medicines to countries that cannot manufacture the needed medicines themselves. These licenses were originally limited to predominantly supplying the domestic market.

The following WTO members have accepted the amendment: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, Central African Republic, Chile , China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, European Union, Grenada, Honduras, Hong Kong China , Iceland , India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, the Republic of Korea, Lao PDR, Lesotho, Macao China, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar , New Zealand , Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Philippines , Rwanda , Saint Kitts and Nevis , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, Thailand , the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, United States, Uruguay, and Zambia.