TRIPS, intellectual property rights and access to medicines

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (or the TRIPS Agreement) is an integral part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreements, which created binding international obligations among WTO Member States in 1995. In the South-East Asia Region, all countries are Members of WTO except Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Timor-Leste. 

The TRIPS Agreement deals with Member States’ obligations on a number of Intellectual Property Rights: Copyright and Related Rights, Trademarks, Geographical Indications, Industrial Designs, Patents, Layout-Designs (Topographies) of Integrated Circuits and Protection of Undisclosed Information. The TRIPS Agreement is subject to WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism, which may – as a last resort – allow Member States to apply trade sanctions against a non-compliant country, thereby ensuring enforcement of WTO’s rules and agreements.