Volume: 25 Issue: 10 - Imad Antoine Ibrahim

Given the desperate need for the vaccine, the government is curbing COVID-19 vaccine exports, despite previous commitments made and contracts signed with foreign customers.10 This decision will affect mostly poor countries, and mainly those on the continent of Africa,11 while countries which received the first doses of COVID-19 vaccines from India are struggling to manage these doses given the unc. [...] Article XIII adds a further condition, stating that a prohibition or restriction is not applicable “unless … the exportation of the like product to all third countries is similarly prohibited or restricted.” These are the main provisions applicable in the case of export restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines and ingredients; the rest of the agreements (the GATS, TRIPS, SPS and TBT agreements) apply gen. [...] Among the three examples provided, the US seems to be the one where the measures can be challenged, given the great progress made in vaccinating the population in contrast to the EU, which needs a longer duration, and India, where the situation is critical. [...] In the context of COVID-19 vaccines and ingredients, it is most likely that the measures taken in the general framework of these provisions are lawful if they satisfy all the conditions mentioned within the provisions. [...] This reality may pave the road in the post- coronavirus period for a discussion of whether the objectives of international trade should remain the facilitation of international trade for producers, or whether new Non-Trade Concerns (NTCs), such as preventing and mitigating pandemics, should be given priority.23 NTC matters have already been examined in recent decades by the WTO panels, and the cur.