Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
(DDA) (para. 19) where members agreed to exercise the relationship between the CBD
and the production of traditional knowledge and folklore. The DDA asked speci
cally to
look into the relationship between TRIPs agreement and the CBD. As discussed earlier,
the debates at other fora had an impact, and additional issues related to IKS and ABS
were also included in the TRIPs debate.
In relation to CBD and TRIPs, the views from members have been on di
fi
erent lines
when it comes to assessing the relationship between them. The analysis from the WTO
Secretariat (IP/C/W/368/Rev.1) has classi
ff
erent groupings.
Some of the countries that are not signatories, such as the USA, think that there is no
con
fi
ed these views into four di
ff
ict between TRIPs and CBD and, in fact, they are mutually supportive provided
national measures are taken to implement their mandate. 10
fl
On the contrary, some
members suggest that there is an inherent con
ict between the two, and that there is a
need to review the TRIPs agreement so as to remove con
fl
fl
icting provisions. 11
These
members demanded that the TRIPs agreement should be amended to re
ect the spirit
and commitments of the CBD. In order to achieve this, they recommended that disclo-
sure of source and 'country of origin' of the biological resource or traditional knowledge
used in an invention be made mandatory at the time of
fl
ling the patent. They also sug-
gested obtaining PIC from a competent authority in the country of origin and entering
into an equitable ABS. In addition some countries do not think that there is a con
fi
ict
between TRIPs and the CBD but believe that there is a need to explore the possibility of
international action. However, this group di
fl
ers in terms of its prescription, as one sub-
group suggests action in relation to the patent system while the other is not sure whether
or not an amendment is needed to the TRIPs agreement for promoting the objectives of
the CBD. 12
Although it is widely acknowledged that Article 15 of the CBD recommends an ABS
arrangement on mutually agreed terms, the spirit is not to con
ff
fi
ne this arrangement to the
national level. It has international rami
cations, particularly since, with the rapid eco-
nomic liberalization and opening up of borders and removal of trade restrictions, the
transboundary movements of genetic resources (GRs) and IKS usage may assume
signi
fi
cant proportions. Many companies acquire GRs or IKS in one country and apply
for a patent in another. This would become di
fi
cult to manage if only national instru-
ments were used for governing contractual arrangements. Since provisions of the CBD do
not bind all members of the WTO, there are no obligations under any international law
to ensure commitment for ABS or PIC. Even if national contractual arrangements have
international orientation, lack of a framework at the international level would adversely
a
ff
ect e
ff
ective implementation of desired objectives of ABS and PIC.
Moving for bioeconomy
It is important to contextualize the emergence of the ABS instrument in light of the CBD-
debate on protection of biological resources and the related IKS. Later in this section we
look at the international arrangements that gave rise to ABS arrangements in an institu-
tional framework. This was also the time when bioprospecting emerged as a major issue
to articulate various e
orts by the companies in the North to tap into southern biodiver-
sity. Since, in the middle of 1990s, biotechnology also emerged as one of the key options
for utilization of biodiversity, a view appeared that synergistic relationships should be tar-
geted for larger global gains (see Table 21.1).
ff
Search WWH ::




Custom Search