Trade and gender
Does TRIPS Art. 66.2 encourage technology transfer to LDCs?: an analysis of country submissions to the TRIPS Council (1999-2007)
What should be considered to improve monitoring of compliance with TRIPS Art. 66.2?
Authors:
S. Moon
Publisher:
United Nations [UN] Conference on Trade and Development , 2008
The issue of whether or not technology transfer to less developed countries (LDC) members of the WTO as a result of TRIPS-mandated incentives is a broad question requiring empirical study. This policy brief addresses just one facet of this question: has the article 66.2 obligation led developed countries to increase incentives to enterprises and institutions in their territories for the purpose of promoting technology transfer to LDC members?
The paper notes that from a purely legal perspective, interpretations of the article are likely to vary. Therefore, the paper focuses on public policies or programmes that developed countries undertake to encourage their enterprises or institutions to engage in technology transfer.
The paper finds evidence that implementation of TRIPS Article 66.2 has fallen short in a number of areas. Furthermore, lack of definitional clarity regarding the terms 'technology transfer' and 'developed country' make it unclear which countries are obligated to do what.
The paper figures that members should consider revising and strengthening the article text. In addition, to improve monitoring of compliance with Article 66.2, the paper states that changes to the reporting system will be necessary. Accordingly, it suggests that Members should:
- agree on a common definition of technology transfer and a list of policies that do and do not qualify as such
- agree on common, comparable metrics for measuring the extent to which the incentives have their intended effect
- indicate whether and how reported incentives are additional to business-as-usual practices
