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1 1 (May 17, 2021)

handle is hein.crs/govedia0001 and id is 1 raw text is: a Congressional ______ SResearch Service The Legal Framework for Waiving World Trade Organization (WTO) Obligations May 17, 2021 On May 6, 2021, the Biden Administration announced that it supported negotiating a waiver of certain obligations in the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) at the World Trade Organization (WTO). The announcement represents a shift in the U.S. position at the WTO on South Africa and India's October 2020 proposal to waive some TRIPS obligations to address the prevention, containment or treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID- 19). To date, WTO members remain divided as to the need for or appropriateness of the proposed waiver. As of this writing, South Africa and India are revising the proposal with the aim of submitting a revised text later this month. (For more information on the proposed TRIPS waiver to address the COVID-19 pandemic, see this CRS Insight.) After the Biden Administration's announcement, some Members of Congress have asked, including during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, about the Administration's authority to agree to such a waiver. This Sidebar discusses how waivers are negotiated at the WTO, and the President's authority, delegated to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), to agree to waivers of WTO obligations. Negotiating Waivers at the WTO Legal Framework for Granting Waivers WTO members must generally adhere to WTO Agreements absent a waiver or other exception. Article IX of the Agreement Establishing the WTO permits the Ministerial Conference-the WTO's highest decisionmaking body-to grant waivers in extraordinary circumstances and exempt affected WTO members temporarily from implementing certain WTO obligations. To initiate a waiver, WTO members submit waiver requests to the relevant WTO body. Requests for waivers of the Agreement Establishing the WTO go to the Ministerial Conference, while requests regarding most of the other WTO Agreements go to the Council for Trade in Goods, Council for Trade in Services, or Council for TRIPS. If a request goes to one of the councils, that body prepares a report for the Ministerial Conference or General Council, which then considers whether to grant a requested waiver. In general, the relevant council must conclude its deliberations on a waiver request in 90 days, but this time limitation is not always observed strictly. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10599 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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