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Total Completed Projects: 2   Article 39.3 Of The TRIPS Agreement: Its Genesis And Present Context Category: Intellectual Property Rights     Details: Article 39.3 of the TRIPS Agreement has assumed considerable significance during the past few years since the associations of pharmaceutical majors in the United States and Europe made it a major plank of their campaign for strengthening the patent laws in favour of the patentee the world over. This Article provides that WTO Members would have to provide for protection of undisclosed test or other data while giving approval for the marketing of pharmaceutical or agricultural chemical products, which utilize new chemical entities. The study that is being conducted is dealing with the following issues: 1. Genesis of Article 39.3 of the TRIPS Agreement, the proposals that were submitted during the Uruguay Round negotiations and the views expressed therein 2. Providing an analysis of the dispute between Argentina and the United States over the inclusion of the provision relating to data exclusivity in the Argentinean patent law 3. Examination of the national laws of identified countries in respect of data exclusivity and providing interpretation and commentary on their consistency with Article 39.3 of the TRIPS Agreement The report was presented to Shri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Minister for Commerce and Industry, Government of India, in July 2003.       Relationship Between Convention On Biological Diversity And The Agreement On TRIPS Category: Intellectual Property Rights     Details: This study was proposed in the context of the decision taken in Doha Ministerial Conference to consider the relationship between the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Agreement on TRIPS. The Ministerial Declaration had indicated that work on this issue should be taken up as a part of the review of Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement as also Article 71.1*. The Ministerial Declaration instructed the Council for TRIPS to “examine, inter alia, the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore”. The dimensions of the CBD-TRIPS relationship are being considered in some detail in the proposed study. The broad set of issues that the study is dealing with is as under: 1. Identification of the areas of conflict between the Agreement on TRIPS and the Convention of Biological Diversity 2. Examination of the possible approaches for the protection of traditional knowledge and their holders 3. Assessing the feasibility of benefit sharing arrangements with the holders of traditional knowledge * Article 71.1 provides for review of the Agreement on TRIPS in light of any new development which warrant modification or amendment of the Agreement. This study provided inputs for drafting India’s submission to the TRIPS Council on this issue (IP/C/W/403). India’s paper was supported by Brazil, Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Thailand, Peru and Venezuela. Further work has been initiated on this issue. This includes work on the essential contours of a TRIPS amendment, including clarification of ‘source of origin’ and ‘prior informed consent’, analysis of developments on patent reform and TK protection at the WIPO and elements of national level implementation.     Page  | 1

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