ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on both innovation and access as important social goals; it could become possible to move beyond the political deadlocks over IP that prevented formalization of the access norm, and open up new spaces for negotiating formal rules for the global governance of innovation. In modern societies, if there are normative conflicts between various regulations in different but interdependent sectors, it is the role of the state to deal with these conflicts and to strive for policy coherence. High-level global commissions are one type of expert grouping to develop global consensus. High-level global commissions are one type of expert grouping that has been increasingly used over the past two decades to develop global consensus on a number of important issues. The chapter suggests two commissions most directly relevant to IP norms and access to medicines: the UK Commission on Intellectual Property Rights (CIPR) and the WHO Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, Innovation and Public Health (CIPIH).
