The Protocol Amending the TRIPS Agreement (or the TRIPS Amendment) is the first and, so far, only amendment of a core WTO agreement. It was intended to provide an expeditious solution to the difficulties that WTO Members with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector could face in making effective use of compulsory licensing under the TRIPS Agreement. The number of WTO Members that have accepted the Protocol since its adoption in December 2005 is far fewer than the total required for the amendment to enter into force. The number of further acceptances required for the amendment to take effect is no longer a straightforward matter because the European Union has deposited an instrument of acceptance of the Protocol while its individual Member States have not. The treatment of the EU Member States as regards acceptance of the TRIPS Amendment has implications for future amendments of WTO agreements, such as the eventual results of the Doha Round.
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