DISCUSSION

(Appropos Editorials, Patently Dangerous, Economic &Political Weekly, June 26,2010) The strict enforce ent of intellectual property la!s under T"#P$ o%er the e &er countries pose so e difficult issues for the de%eloping countries' (ost of the de%eloping countries depend upon the generic %ersions of the life sa%ing drugs !hich ay &eco e inaccessi&le to the once the strict clauses in A)TA are &rought into operation' The *uestion of protecting the intellectual property rights is o&%iously a %ery contentious one' +o one can deny that intellectual property rights of the inno%ators of the edicines and in other fields need to &e preser%ed under international trade' ,ut all the regulatory co pliances under the T"#P$ are to &e understood in the light of - edicines for all. declaration of /T0' The concept of protection of intellectual property rights cannot &e used to deny the edicines to the people for !ho use they are in%ented and !ho for so e reason are not a&le to afford the ' $ince the a&o%e declaration !as ade in the Doha round of tal1s in 2001 the de%eloped countries are seen lo&&ying fro pillar to post to dilute the effect of the declaration and protect the interests of the ultinational corporations !ho a1e these life sa%ing drugs' The #P" issues though are a part of a larger de&ate that to !hat e2tent they could &e diluted in case of epide ics and the &attle against deadly diseases' The oot point of our pro3ect is that !e 1no! that unless the econo ies of the de%eloping countries do not &eco e technologically and financially ad%anced enough, they !ill continue to need certain concessions on the #P" front(especially in case of generic edicines)' The fact of pro%iding a least degree of lee!ay in the atter of life sa%ing drugs to the de%eloping countries such as #ndia has &een !idely accepted across di%erse platfor s' The social groupings li1e a /orld social foru and Alter4glo&ali5ation continue to raise the stoic front against the aggressi%e posturing adopted &y the de%eloped countries of the !est' The A)TA proposals as a&o%e !ould lead to illegal confiscation of the goods during the transit route e%en though they ha%e not %iolated any intellectual property la!s in the countries !here these generic goods are produced'

The north south alliances under the regional free trade agree ents are inherently s1e!ed against the interests of the de%eloping countries' $o instead of !al1ing into the conference halls for signing the "TAs the lesser de%eloped nations !ill &e &etter ad%ised to first ull o%er the long ter conse*uences of such deals' #t is %erita&ly possi&le that the lucrati%e ar1ets of the de%eloped countries !hich as of no! see %ery enticing to us could only &e opened to the ruin of our o!n econo ies' Therefore any

haste in this regard is to &e refrained fro &y the yet gro!ing econo ies' The i portance of south south trade in this regard cannot &e under e phasi5ed as it is %ital to the interests of the de%eloping countries' The econo ic fall of 2006 has sho!n us that e%en the ightiest of econo ies of the !orld are suscepti&le to a collapse' And the high une ploy ent rates in 7$A point to us that it !ill &e a long ti e &efore ost of the !estern econo ies get &ac1 on their feet' The eastern econo ies of #ndia and )hina !ho &y large ha%e anaged to e%ade the gloo iest of recession days should not &e too eager to pay for the !estern financial reco%ery' -The glo&al ar1et is not &uilt up 3ust &y pure ar1et forces' There are %arious for s of pri%ileged access as !ell as targeted denials' Diplo acy has a crucial role to play in sol%ing pro&le s and ena&ling access to identified technologies on a pri%ileged or co ercial &asis.'1 #ndian capa&ilities lac1 on the technology front as it pursues the follo!er strategy in that arena' #ndian co panies loo1ing for ar1ets a&road ust &e assisted &y the go%ern ent &y fa%ora&le policy o%es' #t has &een increasingly reali5ed that hanging on to the erst!hile i ediate post independence policy of protectionis is not the !ay to go ahead' ,ut at the sa e ti e it ust &e understood that in the critical areas !here !e still lac1 technology and e2pertise to co pete glo&ally !e need to tread conser%ati%ely' /e find that due to faulty re%ie! of our internal ar1et re*uire ents !e still carry the &urden of eaningless regulations !hich are of no use any ore' 0ne ore rele%ant e2a ple is of the country &eing deficient in the oilseed production &ut still the la!s prohi&it us fro i porting it fro the ar1ets a&road' 0ur o%erall contri&ution to the !orld trade is eager 18' /e need to seriously o%erhaul our international trade priorities and present a and econo ically %ia&le front to the !orld' uch ore rational

The situation is %ery tenuous for the countries li1e #ndia !hich adopted the trade li&erali5ation couple of decades &ac1 &ut still has a long !ay to go as far as the ensuring open ar1ets for all the foreign goods' 0ur per capita inco e doesn9t e%en add up to the one third of the !orld9s a%erage, so uch to say a&out us &eing only ne2t to )hina on the !ay to &eco ing the ne2t superpo!er' -While the World Health Organization defines a counterfeit drug as one which has wrong ingredients, incorrect proportions and fake packing, AC A defines a counterfeit drug as one that has !iolated a patent in one particular country, e!en if the generic !ersion is as effecti!e in com"ating the targeted disease and has not infringed on patents in the country of production.'2

-#ndian (ar1ets4 0pen $esa e., http:;;&usiness'in'co ;article;india4and4the4!orld;indian4 ar1ets4open4 sesa e;16612;0 , %isited on 6;2<;2010 2 Parthaprati Pal,-"egional Trade Agree ents and the # pro%ed (ar1et Access in the De%eloping )ountries4the E%idence., Econo ic =Political /ee1ly, +o%e &er 2>,2006'

#t is clear if the agree ent in its a&o%e for is enforced as such it !ill ha%e a deleterious i pact on the de%eloping nations' They !ill lose out on the &eneficent regulations in their countries li1e those pro%iding for the co pulsory licensing of the life sa%ing drugs irrespecti%e of their patent life' (ost of our esti ates are fla!ed and do not ha%e a statistical &ac1ing !hen !e argue that !e could enter into ultilateral trading arrange ents at our o!n ter s' #ndeed, it is only the ultilateral route that goes through /T0, can #ndia see1 the redressal of its grie%ances under the international trade' Therefore it is not the ti e to act &old and sign on e%ery free trade docu ent in sight 3ust &ecause of our higher politico4econo ic aspirations' 0ur diplo ats and the foreign affairs inistry ust &e diligent enough to &e consistent in its outloo1 in the foreign policy for ulation' The confiscation of the illegal drugs if starts in our country than there !ill not 3ust &e one or t!o heads that !ill ha%e to roll &ut any of the ' The &ig phar a co panies of #ndia that ha%e ade their fortunes selling the generic %ersions of the -acti%e ingredients., !ill ha%e to see their oney and reputation go do!n into the ground through the courtroo aisle' $ince late 2006, ore than 20 cases of confiscation of generic drugs originating fro #ndia !ere reported' #n each of these cases, custo s authorities in the E7 had ta1en action against #ndia9s e2porters -suspecting. that the products !ere -counterfeit.'? #ndian phar aceutical co panies ha%e &een o%er the years a cro!n 3e!el of #ndian anufacturing sector' There !ere plenty of reasons &ehind the &eing eyed upon &y the foreign giants in the sa e field' And they ca e too !ith all their capital ight and too1 so e of the a3or #ndian fir s !ithin their @falcon folds9' The ne!s of a&o%e draft certainly doesn9t &ode !ell for the #ndian co panies and oreo%er it sounds the pro%er&ial death 1nell for the #ndian citi5enry !ho ay ha%e to lose on the cheap edicines !hich !ere readily accessi&le to the up till no!' ,eing a plurilateral pact A)TA !ill &e independent of the e2isting international trade legal regi e and international organi5ations as /T0, /#P0 and 7+' #ndia is already pushed to the edge &y the regulatory re*uire ents of /T0 and /#P0, fro !here it gets to !or1 in ensuring the co pliance !ith the international trading nor s laid do!n &y the a&o%e organi5ations' And despite all the due diligence they can put in, our e2porters still !ant their goods !anting at gates of the standards put up &y European 7nion' /ith the o%erly stringent nor s for intellectual property protection and trading in nu erous other enlisted ite s under the "TA !ill stifle the freedo of the #ndian e2porters' SUGGESTIONS:
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Parthaprati Pal, -"egional Trade Agree ents and the # pro%ed (ar1et Access in the De%eloping )ountries4the E%idence., Econo ic =Political /ee1ly, +o%e &er 2>, 2006'

 #ndia should raise a opposition on a united front against A)TA' /e should cooperate !ith other countries such as )hina, $outh Africa, ,ra5il, !ho share si ilar concerns regarding A)TA' Indian diplomatic front should be ever so vigilant and not let itself dragged into economically impotent agreements just for the sake of elusive geopolitical gains. We should open up our markets in critical areas requiring investments for their survival like import of oil seeds. We should push for technology transfer agreements with the western countries in order to let our industries become more competitive. The fledgling and vitally important market for generic medicines in India should be protected with intellectual property safeguards.