Archive - Nov 4, 2015 - Article

The United States and Switzerland want the right to file complaints for loss of trade ‘benefits’ even against countries whose intellectual property rights laws are fully consistent with international agreements

In a join civil society statement Indian and African CSOs called upon Indian and African leaders not to fail to protect interests of locals at upcoming WTO meet.

The United States and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) at the World Trade Organization have reached agreement ad referendum on a pharmaceutical patent exemption for a duration of 17 years, according to trade diplomats. With this exemption, the world’s poorest nations will not be obliged “to implement or apply” or “to enforce” patents as well as test data protection for pharmaceutical products until 1 January 2033.

The US has demanded ‘safe harbor’ protection for its controversial farm export credit programme from the disciplines underpinning the World Trade Organization’s agreement on subsidies and countervailing measures despite denying such a flexibility to India and other developing countries for public stockholding programmes for food security last year.