Organizations release manifesto against presidential vetoes to the “License Law”
They urge Congress to overturn the vetoes of Jair Bolsonaro to the law that permits temporary compulsory licensing of patents in emergencies
Foto: Djair Pedro/SEI
Civil society organizations, among them Conectas, this week released the manifesto “A vida pede licença!”, which calls on Congress to overturn the presidential vetoes to law 14,200/2021. Known as the “License Law”, the legislation amends the Industrial Property Law (9,279/1996) and permits the federal government to grant temporary compulsory licenses for the use of vaccine and drug patents in emergencies.
The bill was approved in the Lower House and the Senate in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and signed into law by President Jair Bolsonaro, but with five vetoes. Among them, a part containing the definition that the compulsory license can be granted by law. Provisions requiring patent owners to transfer knowledge and provide drug and vaccine inputs were also vetoed.
In the manifesto, more than 50 organizations state that there are inequalities in the supply, distribution, price and application of vaccines and that the law will increase vaccine availability for people who need it most.
“We need mechanisms that allow us to produce and import vaccines and medicines quickly and at a fair price, in order to allow the inoculation of all people as quickly as possible and bring more hope to those seeking treatment,” reads the manifesto.
The organizations go on to say that “if these vetoes are not urgently overturned, we will continue to see our loved ones dying in ICUs, because the drugs that could save them are too expensive; and we will continue to depend on the good will of large pharmaceutical companies to keep up regular vaccination in the years ahead”.
