Review of members` implementing rules Members must inform the TRIPS Council of their relevant laws and regulations. This will help the Council to review the functioning of the agreement. A 2003 agreement eased the requirements of the domestic market and allows developing countries to export to other countries where there is a national health problem as long as the exported medicines are not part of a trade or industrial policy. [10] Drugs exported under such a regime may be packaged or coloured differently to prevent them from harming the markets of industrialized countries. The Agreement on trade aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) was negotiated between 1986 and 1994 as part of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which led to the creation of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The TRIPS Agreement establishes minimum levels for different types of intellectual property (IP) protection, including copyright, trademarks, patents, industrial design and trade secret protection. Accession to the WTO implies the obligation to respect the TRIPS Agreement. According to the WTO, the agreement attempts to strike a balance between long-term social benefits to society by increasing innovation and short-term costs to society due to lack of access to inventions (World Trade Organization: protection and enforcement). From the WTO Agreement: the Agreements: wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/agrm7_e.htm). TRIPS conditions that impose more standards beyond TRIPS were also discussed. [38] These free trade agreements contain conditions that limit the ability of governments to create competition for generic drug manufacturers.

While some of this criticism is directed at the WTO in general, many proponents of trade liberalization also see TRIPS as bad policy. The wealth concentration effects of TRIPS (the movement of money from people in developing countries to copyright and patent holders in developed countries) and the imposition of artificial shortages on citizens of countries that would otherwise have weaker intellectual property laws are common bases for such criticism. Other criticisms focused on TRIPS` failure to accelerate the flow of investment and technology to low-income countries, an advantage advanced by WTO members before the agreement was created. World Bank statements indicate that TRIPS has not been able to tangibly accelerate investment in low-income countries, although this has been done for middle-income countries. [33] The long periods of validity of patents under TRIPS have been examined to indicate that they excessively slow down market entry for generic drug substitutes and competition in the market. In particular, the illegality of preclinical studies or the filing of samples for approval until the expiry of a patent have been held responsible for the growth of a small number of multinational companies and not producers in developing countries. . . .