Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said that India’s Intellectual Property Rights laws were not lax and were within the ambit of the WTO norms, even as he alleged that the US indulged in trade protectionism.

He also indicated that it is only the multinational pharmaceutical lobby which is opposed to India’s patent regime.

“India has raised issues regarding high and unacceptable protectionism, also the visa issues, objecting to temporary movement of skilled professionals, visa fee enhancement,” said Sharma addressing media persons here.

He added that India’s patent regime is “fully compliant with the intellectual property rights norms of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement of WTO and has never deviated from nor diluted these norms.”

“The patent related issues are being raised by some lobbyists in a particular sector, which is crucial not just for India but for every country of the world to ensure availability of life saving medicines at affordable prices,” said Sharma.

“What is being asked of India is TRIPS plus, which India will never agree to. India will adhere in letter and spirit the multilateral agreement as negotiated and signed. Issue they refer to is a part of India patents act, which is aimed to prevent the ever-greening of patents,” he said.

India has never invoked compulsory executive authority (which India can) for compulsory licensing.

The US Federal Drug Authority has invoked executive authority for three anti-cancer drugs for putting them under compulsory licensing.

Sharma added that Novartis’s patent for Glivec was denied by the examiner of patents, not the Indian Government. The rejection of that patent was upheld by appellate authority and the Supreme Court as well.

Sharma trained his guns on Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, saying he should explain why he opposed the GST. GST alone could have added two per cent to the GDP growth, he said.

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