G20 Trade ministers’ meeting was convened in Italy on October 12, 2021. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal, who attended the ministerial, had made a strong pitch for dismantling of IPR and trade barriers in the global fight against the pandemic. In October 2020, India and South Africa had submitted the first proposal, suggesting a waiver for all WTO members on the implementation of certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement in relation to the prevention, containment or treatment of COVID-19.

The agreement on TRIP came into effect in January 1995. It is a multilateral agreement on intellectual property (IP) rights such as copyright, industrial designs, patents and protection of undisclosed information or trade secrets.