India receives WTO support in battle against bio-piracy

In a major boost to India’s fight against bio-piracy at the multi-lateral level, World Trade Organisation director general Pascal Lamy, in his report on ‘GI extension and bio-diversity consultations’, has said that there is an important common ground on the need to implement Trips and the convention on bio-diversity (CBD) in a mutually supportive way. However, the DG also said that there is no agreement on whether the issue is part of the on-going Doha negotiations. While the recognition that Trips and CBD have to be implemented in a mutually supportive way would mean that the important issue of disclosure of origin of a biological product and benefit sharing, which is a part of CBD, could also become a part of the Trips Agreement, it could all come to naught if the issue is removed from the Doha negotiations. “The issue is very much a part of the Doha agenda and we will not allow it to be taken off,” a government source said. Disclosure of origin and benefit sharing would result in a mandatory requirement for patent applicants for disclosing origin of the biological resource being patented and sharing the benefits being generated by the patent with the country where the resource originates from. India, which is leading a group of nine countries including Brazil, China, Pakistan and Cuba, has been pushing for an amendment to the TRIPS agreement to bring about the stated changes. The amendment is very important for developing countries as it would give them ammunition to fight against patenting of natural resources originating on their turf by companies or individuals in the developed world. A group of about 100 countries, including India, have recently submitted a non-paper to WTO stating that the issues related to bio-diversity consultations and extension of geographical indications (another issue related to TRIPS) be made part of the ‘horizontal process’ in which senior officials and trade ministers from key countries would meet to agree on the modality texts for liberalising trade in agriculture, industrial goods and other issues. The process is expected to expedite the negotiations of the Doha round and move it closer to a conclusion. However, another group of countries, including the US and Australia, have insisted that the TRIPS issue be kept out of the negotiating process as it would make it too complicated. The DG report adds that a common ground has been reached on the avoidance of erroneous patents for inventions that involve the use of genetic resources and related traditional knowledge and securing compliance with national access and benefit-sharing regimes. On the negative side, the report points out that the work continues to be characterised by different approaches to meet these objectives, including whether TRIPS Agreement needs to be amended and whether it was agreed at Doha that this issue is part of the negotiations and of the Single Undertaking. There are also different views on whether this matter should be addressed in the context of the modalities decision. By Ms. Bobby Aanand, Metropolitan Jury

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