AMIGOS Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3236 To prohibit the President from taking any action to support the waiver of obligations of members of the World Trade Organization under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights in relation to the prevention, containment, mitigation, or treatment of COVID–19 unless a statute is enacted expressly authorizing such a waiver with respect to the prevention, containment, mitigation, or treat- ment of COVID–19, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 14, 2021 Ms. SALAZAR (for herself, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, Mr. DONALDS, Mr. JACKSON, and Mr. BILIRAKIS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently deter- mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To prohibit the President from taking any action to support the waiver of obligations of members of the World Trade Organization under the Agreement on Trade-Related As- pects of Intellectual Property Rights in relation to the prevention, containment, mitigation, or treatment of COVID–19 unless a statute is enacted expressly author- izing such a waiver with respect to the prevention, con- tainment, mitigation, or treatment of COVID–19, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H3236.IH H3236 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3236 IH Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Medical In- 4 vestment Generating Overseas Security Act’’ or the ‘‘AMI- 5 GOS Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON ACTION TO SUPPORT WAIVER OF 7 OBLIGATIONS OF WTO MEMBERS UNDER THE 8 TRIPS AGREEMENT IN RELATION TO THE 9 PREVENTION, CONTAINMENT, MITIGATION, 10 OR TREATMENT OF COVID–19. 11 The President may not take any action to support 12 the waiver of obligations of members of the World Trade 13 Organization under the TRIPS Agreement to implement 14 or apply sections 1, 4, 5, and 7 of part II of the TRIPS 15 Agreement or to enforce such sections under part III of 16 the TRIPS Agreement in relation to the prevention, con- 17 tainment, mitigation, or treatment of COVID–19 unless 18 a statute is enacted expressly authorizing such a waiver 19 with respect to the prevention, containment, mitigation, 20 or treatment of COVID–19. 21 SEC. 3. PRIORITY IN ALLOCATING EXCESS VACCINES FOR 22 COVID–19 TO OTHER COUNTRIES. 23 (a) IN GENERAL.—In allocating vaccines for 24 COVID–19 that are procured by or otherwise subject to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3236.IH H3236 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3236 IH the control of the Federal Government and in excess of 1 the demand for such vaccines by individuals in the United 2 States who are eligible to receive such vaccines, the Presi- 3 dent shall allocate such vaccines in accordance with the 4 following order of priority: 5 (1) First, to other countries in the Western 6 Hemisphere with the lowest rates of immunization 7 for COVID–19. 8 (2) Second, to other countries in the Western 9 Hemisphere based on other metrics developed by the 10 President. 11 (3) Third, to United States allies and partner 12 countries with the lowest rates of immunization for 13 COVID–19. 14 (4) Fourth, to United States allies and partner 15 countries based on the metrics developed under 16 paragraph (2). 17 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—In allocating vaccines described in 18 subsection (a), the President may waive the prioritization 19 otherwise required by such subsection to allocate such vac- 20 cines to countries that are determined by the President 21 to be— 22 (1) experiencing a significantly high number of 23 per capita COVID–19 cases and associated hos- 24 pitalizations; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3236.IH H3236 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3236 IH (2) at risk of a country-wide health care system 1 collapse as a result of COVID–19; or 2 (3) experiencing the spread of a variant of 3 SARS–CoV–2 that needs to be contained. 4 (c) MONITORING.—The President shall monitor the 5 allocation of vaccines for COVID–19 to foreign countries 6 under this section to ensure the governments of such coun- 7 tries provide such vaccines to the peoples of such countries 8 in a timely manner and do not otherwise withhold such 9 vaccines. 10 SEC. 4. MARKING REQUIREMENTS. 11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 12 (b), vaccines for COVID–19 provided to foreign countries 13 under section 3 shall be marked as assistance from the 14 American people or the United States Government and 15 shall include a depiction of the flag of the United States 16 if appropriate. 17 (b) EXCEPTION.—The marking requirements of sub- 18 section (a) shall not apply if the President determines that 19 such requirements will endanger the lives or safety of per- 20 sons delivering such vaccines or would have an adverse ef- 21 fect on the administration of such vaccines. 22 SEC. 5. DEFINITIONS. 23 In this Act: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3236.IH H3236 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3236 IH (1) COVID–19.—The term ‘‘COVID–19’’ re- 1 fers to the 2019 coronavirus disease caused by 2 SARS–CoV–2. 3 (2) SARS–CoV–2.—The term ‘‘SARS–CoV–2’’ 4 refers to the severe acute respiratory syndrome 5 coronavirus 2 virus responsible for COVID–19 and 6 includes any viral variant mutating therefrom with 7 pandemic potential. 8 (3) TRIPS AGREEMENT.—The term ‘‘TRIPS 9 Agreement’’ means the Agreement on Trade-Related 10 Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights referred to in 11 section 101(d)(15) of the Uruguay Round Agree- 12 ments Act (19 U.S.C. 3511(d)(15)). 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:32 Jun 17, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3236.IH H3236 lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with BILLS