The New Delhi Declaration, adopted during the ongoing 18th BRICS summit, emphasizes the need for constructive engagement in negotiations for the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) Annex to the WHO pandemic agreement. This declaration reaffirms the sovereign rights of states over their biological resources and their authority to legislate and implement national access and benefit-sharing laws.
Context
Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization planned to develop a legally binding pandemic agreement aimed at improving prevention, preparedness, and response to future pandemics. Although the agreement was adopted during last year’s World Health Assembly, the PABS Annex remains unresolved. Approval or ratification of the pandemic agreement by member states is contingent upon reaching an agreement on this annex.
Developments
The PABS Annex is intended to establish a framework for sharing dangerous pathogens and the associated medicines, diagnostics, or vaccines developed from them. However, countries have yet to agree on whether sharing pathogen samples should be mandatory in conjunction with sharing the benefits derived from them. This includes stipulations such as companies allocating a portion of their production for free or at affordable costs, or sharing intellectual property with other manufacturers.
