Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday signed off on a law allowing for vaccine and medication patents to be broken in a public emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reports.

But Bolsonaro vetoed the provisions that patent holders would need to transfer the knowledge and supply the raw materials needed to duplicate the vaccines and medications.

According to a statement from his office, those provisions were seen as being too difficult to implement and discouraging investment in researching new technologies.

Bolsonaro has previously spoken against the proposal, saying it could harm Brazil's relationship with vaccine producers and that the country would not have the technology to produce some vaccines even if the patents were broken.

Under the law, the president is the one who would determine when to break a patent in an emergency.