World Trade Organization (WTO) members approved on Tuesday an amendment to the intellectual property agreement to enhance access to medicines for developing countries.

The amendment to the WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) allows countries to override patent rights when necessary to export life-saving drugs to developing countries that face public health crises but cannot produce drugs for themselves.

This is the first time a core WTO agreement is amended. It makes permanent a "waiver" originally adopted by WTO members in 2003 and currently in place.

The amendment will be formally built into the TRIPS Agreement when two thirds of the WTO members have ratified it. The WTO said members have set themselves until Dec. 1, 2007 to do this. The waiver remains in force until then.

"The agreement to amend the TRIPS provisions confirms once again that members are determined to ensure the WTO trading system contributes to humanitarian and development goals as they prepare for the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference," WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said.

Source: Xinhua