The Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement and Agriculture in South Asia

Abstract

One of the main objectives of the World Trade Organization (WTO) is to facilitate world’s trade and production. It enforces legally binding multilateral agreements on trade in goods, services and trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights. The Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) Agreement was implemented to regulate standards of Intellectual Property (IP) regulations in WTO member countries. Being a member of the WTO and a signatory to the TRIPs Agreement, it was compulsory for Sri Lanka and five other South Asian countries (Bangladesh, Nepal, the Maldives, India and Pakistan) to formulate its IP regulations to comply with the TRIPs Agreement. According to the agreement, by 2006 India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and by 2013 Bangladesh and Nepal have to provide legal protection to plant varieties and farmers’ traditional knowledge via patents or by an effective sui generis system or by both. All of the above six countries have during the past 15 years implemented or drafted several acts to comply with the TRIPs Agreement. Sri Lanka has passed the Intellectual Property Rights Act No. 36 of 2003 to comply with the TRIPs Agreement. However, this Act does not provide protection for plant varieties and farmers’ traditional knowledge as it does not allow patenting of plants. Due to several reasons such as lack of demand from civil society, a poor legal system, lack of properly established institutional system, etc,. Sri Lanka was unable to build an effective intellectual property rights regime complying with the agreement, especially for the agricultural sector. Further, due to a delay in establishing rules and regulations to comply with the agreement, the Sri Lankan agricultural sector faces several difficulties in international trade and it has also lost a number of opportunities to use its own plant varieties for the benefit of future generations. The article suggests several techniques and methods that could be followed in implementing intellectual property rights in agriculture in order to promote investments and accelerate trade especially in Sri Lanka. And also it suggests the importance of having a regional centre to manage intellectual property rights effectively among South Asian countries.

Keywords

JEL: O34 JEL: K11 JEL: Q57 JEL: N55 Intellectual property rights agriculture plant varieties bio-piracy Sri Lanka

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abeysekera, I.N. (1999). Sri Lankan copyright law and the TRIPs Agreement. Colombo: Mahapola Higher Education Trust Fund.

Beronio, R. & Payumo, J. (2002). Enforcing TRIPS in Asia: The implications for agri-cultural trade and development, and an agenda for effective compliance. Retrieved 4 April 2010, from http://www.searca.org/ajad/archives/v-04/01/ajad_v4_n1_beronio.pdf

Dissanayake, T. & Haduneththi, D. (2006). Taste of our own medicine. Sunday Times. Retrieved 4 February 2011, from http://sundaytimes.lk/980920/plusm.html

Editor’s Note (2007). Trade insight. Kathmandu, Nepal: SAWTEE.

Fink, C. & Maskus, E. (2005). Why we study intellectual property rights and what we have learned. Retrieved 12 December 2009, from http://www.iie.com/

GRAIN and Kalpavriksh (2002). Traditional knowledge of biodiversity in Asia-Pacific: Problems of piracy and protection. Retrieved from www.grain.org/briefings_files/tk-asia-2002-en.pdf

Gunasekera, S. (2007). Issues faced by Sri Lanka in relation to plant genetic resources and rights of farmers. In Farmers’ rights to plant genetic resources in Sri Lanka (pp. 38–65). Colombo: Law and Society Trust.

Nanayakkara, A. (2007). Protecting farmers’ rights: Historical, contemporary and inter-national perspectives. In Farmers’ rights to plant genetic resources in Sri Lanka (pp. 17–38). Colombo: Law and Society Trust.

Maskus, K. (2000). Intellectual property rights and economic development: Intellectual property rights in the global economy. Retrieved 12 December 2009, from http://www.iie.com/

10.

Perera, A. (2004). Protection of plant varieties in Sri Lanka. Colombo, Sri Lanka: Law & Society Trust.

11.

Sahai, S. (2000). GATT/WTO and the TRIPs agreement: South Asian perspective. South Asia Economic Journal, 1(2), 25–41.

12.

South Centre (1997). The TRIPs agreement a guide for the South. Geneva: South Centre.

13.

Stewart, T.P. (1999). The GATT Uruguay Round: A negotiation history (1986 –1994 ). Volume IV (The End Game Part 1 ). Hague, the Netherlands: Kluwer Law International.

14.

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (2009). Retrieved 3 March 2011, from http://www.wipo.int/about-ip/en/