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The need for a legal solution to the compulsory licence problem was outlined in the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health of 14 November 2001. The agreement subsequently reached by WTO Members on 30 August 2003 in response to paragraph 6 of the Doha Declaration is seen as key to improving access to essential medicines in developing countries. This article reexamines the negotiations that led to the 30 August agreement and assesses its likely impact. It then argues that compulsory licensing is one of a range of policy approaches that will ultimately assist in improving access to essential medicines in developing countries. The article suggests that a long-term achievement of the Doha-based negotiations is likely to be in refocusing attention on the potential of other measures that can operate alongside compulsory licensing provisions. It concludes that the debate about the Doha Declaration and compulsory licensing is part of a much wider problem and the solution requires a mix of policy initiatives.

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Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement places an obligation on developed country WTO members to provide, on request and on mutually agreed terms and conditions, technical and financial cooperation in favour of developing and least-developed WTO members. This article provides an analysis of technical assistance provided by the United States, Japan and the European Communities and its member states in accordance with Article 67. The article suggests that least-developed countries can learn lessons from a comparative analysis of the technical assistance that the United States, Japan and the EC have so far provided to developing country WTO members.