India seeks changes in TRIPS to prevent biopiracy acts

NEW DELHI: India, along with several other countries, has sought an amendment to the present WTO agreement on TRIPS to prevent biopiracy acts under which a person may claim patent rights in a country over genetic resources which are under the sovereignty of another country.
"In the absence of clear provisions in TRIPS (Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights) implementation of the agreement may allow for acts of biopiracy and thus result in systemic conflicts with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)," India said in a joint paper submitted recently to the WTO General Council along with ten other countries, including Pakistan, Brazil, China, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Equador.
The paper on ''the relationship between TRIPS agreement and the convention of biological diversity and Protection of Traditional Knowledge'' emphasises that changes in TRIPS agreement is necessary to ensure that it does not run counter to objectives of the CBD.
The TRIPS agreement, it says, should be amended to provide that an applicant for a patent relating to biological materials or traditional knowledge would have to provide certain information as a condition to acquiring patent rights.
These conditions include disclosure of the source and country of origin of the biological resource and of the traditional knowledge used in the invention as also evidence of prior informed consent through approval of authorities under the relevent national regimes.
In addition to this, members would also be required to provide evidence of fair and equitable benefit sharing under the national regime of the country of origin, it said.