'India to meet patent obligations by 05'

NEW DELHI: India will amend the Patents Act to introduce product patents for pharmaceuticals, chemicals and food to "fully meet" its WTO obligations by the January 1, 2005 deadline. Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath made this clear at the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum and CII, ruling out any possibility of India either not adhering to its WTO commitments or seeking an extension to the deadline.
"There are different points of view on certain aspects of intellectual property rights protection such as whether new usage of a drug can be patented or whether import alone can be taken as the working of a patent.But these issues will not hold up the legislation for grant of product patents for pharmaceuticals, chemicals and food," Nath said.
"I will soon introduce legislation in Parliament and we will fully meet our WTO obligations by January 1," Nath said, adding: "The legislation will not be wishy washy, but will be internationally credible."
Nath was fielding a question from a delegate during a plenary session on international trade which was also addressed by WTO director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi and South African trade minister Mandisi Mpahlwa.
Earlier at a news conference, Supachai had suggested that India should stick to its commitments and avoid getting into costly litigations at WTO. India has to approach member-countries of WTO if it wants to seek any "exception or limitation" from meeting its treaty obligation, he had said.
Nath also openly disagreed with Supachai who had cautioned India and other such developing countries (termed as emerging markets) against entering into regional trade agreements (RTAs) and bilateral FTAs. Supachai had argued that the best interests of the developing countries would be served by strengthening the multilateral trading system under the WTO.
Nath, however, emphasised that in the next decade or so, FTAs and RTAs would be the basic "building blocks" of the international trading system. "As much as 60 per cent of world trade would be conducted through FTAs and RTAs," he said, indicating that India is planning to go in for FTAs and RTAs with a large number of developing countries in the near future.
Nath also argued that the multilateral trading system under WTO cannot boost trade among the developing countries. The RTAs and FTAs, on the other hand, have great potential to increase South-South co-operation.
Nath said the challenge before the multilateral trading system is not just a matter of lowering of import duties, but to ensure that developed countries do not raise non-tariff barriers against products from the developing countries.
India will resist pressures for any new form of protectionism in the world textile trade following the elimination of quotas under the multi-fibre arrangement (MFA) from January 1, 2005.
"The expiry of the MFA three weeks from now does not ensure that protectionism will disappear from that date. While the developing countries poise themselves to fully exploit the opportunities that will open up before them, there are forces at work to negate this. We shall not allow it."