Non-Violation Nullification or Impairment Causes of Action under the TRIPS Agreement and the Fifth Ministerial Conference: A Warning and Reminder

Quaker United Nations Office (Geneva) (QUNO), Occasional Paper No. 11, July 2003

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From the standpoint of developing countries, the possibility of non- violation causes of action being brought under the TRIPS Agreement would give rise to serious risks. In the India-Mailbox decision, in which the Appellate Body (AB) first interpreted the TRIPS Agreement, it stressed reliance on the express text of the agreement and discounted the significance of Member’s expectations concerning
its effects. Although the AB has given little indication that it would permit Members to significantly expand the agreement to encompass subject matter not expressly contemplated by the text, t