A Legal Analysis of the WHO Pandemic Agreement : Content, Significance, and Limitations

At its Seventy-eighth session in 2025, the World Health Assembly adopted the WHO Pandemic Agreement under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution. The Agreement was developed against the backdrop of deficiencies in the existing international health law regime and the inequities revealed during the COVID-19 pandemic. It establishes equity and solidarity as core principles throughout all stages of pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, and seeks to institutionalize them through specific mechanisms. The adoption of the Agreement represents an important step toward institutionalizing multilateral health governance on a legal basis. This study analyzes the Agreement from an international legal perspective and aims to evaluate its normative significance and limitations. It focuses on the structure and 35 articles of the Agreement, examines the legal nature and operational functions of each institutional arrangement, and clarifies its complementary and developmental relationship with the International Health Regulations (2005). Particular attention is given to the One Health approach, strengthening health systems and workforce capacities, frameworks for research and development and technology transfer, the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system, global supply chains and procurement mechanisms, and the establishment and authority of the Conference of the Parties. The study critically assesses the potential for institutionalizing equity and solidarity, identifies structural constraints affecting feasibility and effectiveness, and reviews principles and obligations proposed during negotiations but ultimately excluded or diluted in the final text—such as common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) and mandatory financial contributions. The Agreement sets equity as a guiding principle of pandemic response, integrates it throughout its structure as a framework for objectives and implementation, and seeks to realize it through concrete institutional mechanisms, thereby underscoring its significance. However, many provisions rely on voluntary or recommendatory language, binding enforcement and dispute settlement mechanisms are absent, and the Agreement cannot be opened for signature until the PABS annex is adopted, creating structural uncertainties. Moreover, the effective participation of major developed states and private manufacturers is decisive for the functioning of key mechanisms concerning access to medicines and vaccines, technology transfer, and global supply chains. Ultimately, the legal effect and global impact of the Agreement depend on how the institutional framework operates, how the PABS system is elaborated, and whether international solidarity based on equity can be sustained in practice.