The government of Pakistan has intensified steps to tighten intellectual property rights laws currently prevailing in the country.
Developing countries like Pakistan are facing the deadline of January 1, 2005 to comply with the provisions of the Agreement on Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs).
The agreement requires intellectual property rights protection in seven areas -- copyrights, trademarks, industrial designs, geographical indications, patents, integrated circuits and undisclosed information.
The country has already introduced adequate changes to its copyrights and trademarks laws, but its compliance with the most controversial TRIPs section dealing with patents is still awaited.
The government is giving final touches to Patent Act 1999 and Plant Breeders Rights Act 1999, said Bashir Ahmed, who is deputy chief at the Ministry of Commerce' International Trade Wing, recently. These draft laws would be forwarded to the cabinet for approval and subsequent promulgation as ordinances soon.
However, many fear that the new patent regime may give total control of the country's lucrative drug market to transnational corporations (TNCs).
Health advocacy NGOs raise concerns over the impact of patents on people's access to medicines.
Currently, Pakistan is offering patents only on processes under a 1911 law, enabling the local pharmaceutical industries to provide alternatives of patented drugs to people at affordable rates.
The local companies hold 60 per cent by volume of the country's drug market and 40 per cent in sales, showing they sell more drugs at lesser prices.
The new law will extend patent protection to products as well, and that too for a period of 20 years, as required by the TRIPs agreement and fulfill one of the longstanding demand of pharmaceutical TNCs.
The Network fears that the patent law would seriously jeopardize the capability of local pharmaceutical industry, which lags behind in research and development, to provide cheaper alternatives to people for common diseases.
''We suggest that the government delay this law for a period of five years under Article 65.4 of the TRIPs agreement, which allows this concession to countries that offer process patents,'' said The Network's letter.
According to a UN report, more than 50 per cent of people have no access to medicines in Pakistan. Another World Bank report said that the cost of medicines form 90 per cent of medical bills in Pakistan, a country where more than 80 per cent of drug purchases are made out-of-pocket.
However, Anwar Khan, who is a senior research officer at the Ministry of Industries and is also coordinating the revision of the patent law, said the government is considering proposals sent by various stakeholders with a view to finalizing the draft soon.
Although the government may avail the in-built concessions under the TRIPs agreement to delay product patents, it has no option but to extend protection to plant varieties either through patents or a sui generis system.
Pakistan has opted for the latter or a locally devised system in order to provide maximum protection to farmers against seed TNCs that are now eyeing the lucrative seed markets in developing countries. Officials at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture said that they are aware of the requirements and practices of the local farmers, whose interest would be protected by the new law.
''The new law would allow the farmers to save, retain and share seeds, but bar them from marketing seeds on a commercial basis,'' said Dr Akhlaq Hussain, director general of the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department.
But activists question the law on the grounds that it does not recognise the rights of the communities on plant varieties as is being done in India and Bangladesh, which is a requirement of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) to which Pakistan is a signatory.
The CBD gives nations state sovereign public rights over their biological resources, while TRIPs considers biological resources private intellectual property said Mushtaq Gadi who works with the Sungi Development Foundation an organisation engaged in civil rights advocacy.
- Inter Press Service