To check bio-piracy and exploitation of traditional knowledge holders in developing countries by big global companies there is an urgent need for an effective international legal regime, said Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia.

“Discussions on the linkages between intellectual property rights and the Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) need to be revived at the World Trade Organisation,” Teaotia said at a conference on the TRIPS-CBD linkages organised by the Centre for WTO Studies on Wednesday.

The asymmetry between the benefits earned by companies that commercially exploit products derived from traditional knowledge and the lack of benefits for traditional knowledge holder together with misappropriation of traditional knowledge under patents and other IPRs are some major issues that countries need to address, the Commerce Secretary said.

However, national laws alone can never address fully the issues of misappropriation of existing knowledge in foreign patent offices and therefore, we need an international regime in order to address issues related to bio-piracy, she added.

“There is certainly a need for an international legal regime that makes the patent office the check point to contain misappropriation,” she said.

Developing countries, including India, have been making a case for incorporating a provision in the TRIPS (trade related aspects of intellectual property rights) agreement of the WTO that would make it compulsory for patent applicants to disclose the source of origin of the biological resource and evidence of consent and benefit sharing with the traditional knowledge holder.

The proposal is opposed by developed country members including the US and the EU.

Attempts to patent medicinal properties of neem , turmeric and ashvagandha in Europe and the US are examples of the adverse effects that a patent monopoly over traditional knowledge can have on indigenous communities that hold such knowledge, pointed out Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Director, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.

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