(a ) whether the Government feel the necessity of making a demand to the WTO for reclaiming the manufacturing rights of life savings drugs and general medicines under TRIPS agreement;
(b) if so, the measures taken by the Government (Indi
(a) in this regard in the recently concluded session of the TRIPS council in Geneva; and
(
(c) the opinion / reaction of TRIPS thereto?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY ( SHRI DIGVIJAY SINGH )
(a) to (c) : The TRIPS Council of the WTO in a special session on 20th June, 2001 discussed the issue of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and affordable access to medicines. In the special session, India along with 46 other developing countries submitted a joint paper on TRIPS and public health. India along with other co-sponsors has demanded in this joint paper that the WTO should ensure that the TRIPS Agreement does not undermine the right of the WTO Members to formulate their own public health policies and adopt measures for providing affordable access to medicines. Greater flexibility and clarity in the interpretation of the TRIPS Agreement has been sought in order to take care of the public health concerns of the developing countries so as to ensure affordable access to essential medicines and life saving drugs.
In the special session, it was decided that the issue of the TRIPS Agreement and access to medicines would be further discussed in the next meeting of the TRIPS Council of WTO to be held in September, 2001.