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New Delhi is preparing responses to issues that may be raked up during the US’ internal investigation on India’s intellectual property regime and what it calls trade barriers.
The Foreign Ministry, at the request of the Indian Mission in Washington, is collecting information from various Ministries and Departments on US-related trade matters.
It is also short-listing problems faced by the Indian industry in the US.
“This will be used to respond informally to the investigations through consultants or in outreach activities by the Indian Mission,” a Government official told Business Line .
The investigation on trade, investment, and industrial policies in India has been launched by the US International Trade Commission — a quasi-judicial federal agency. The focus is on India’s IP regime, pharmaceutical industry, trade barriers and FDI caps.
The US pharmaceutical industry is strongly critical of India’s IP regime which, it alleges, is weighed against patent holders and favours of manufacturers of generic or off-patent drugs. It has been urging Washington to designate India as a ‘Priority Foreign Country’ — a term reserved for serious violators of intellectual property — against which the US issues trade sanctions.
Although the USITC investigation does not make recommendations on policy matters, its findings and analyses guide policy making by the US President, the US Trade Representative and the Congress.
Key concernsConcerns raised by the US include domestic sourcing clause in the National Solar Mission, safe testing and security testing of electronic products, restrictions on FDI in certain sectors such as retail and restrictive market access for agricultural products.
“While we are not under any compulsion to respond to the US investigations as our policy making is our sovereign territory, it is important that we prevent spread of mis-information. That is why we will do our bit in correcting the wrong information on our policies that is being spread by various lobbies, including pharmaceutical companies,” the official said, adding that India’s policies were compliant with World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules.
The Ministries of Finance, Commerce & Industry, Agriculture, Health, New & Renewable Energy and Telecom have submitted their responses to the Foreign Ministry.
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