Proposed anti counterfeiting trade pact harmful to WTO: India

D Ravi Kanth
Geneva, Oct 29 (PTI) India has slammed the draft Anti
Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) text at the World Trade
Organisation on ground that it would alter the balance of
rights and obligations.
At the WTO's TRIPS (trade-related intellectual property
rights) Council meeting on Wednesday, India along with
Indonesia, Brazil, China, South Africa, Argentina, and ACP
(Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific) said ACTA created TRIPS'
developments that is harmful to the global trade body.
The draft ACTA text was finalised by the United States,
the European Union, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, New
Zealand, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, and Morocco early
this month during their recent meeting in Tokyo.
India said it raised serious "systemic" issues and
circumscribed TRIPS flexibilities.
It "is not sure that ACTA is TRIPS compliant," said
India, arguing suggesting that it is riddled with ambiguities.
While patents are excluded from the section on "border
measures," the text includes them in "civil enforcement" as
well as in "in-transit," in "customs transit" and "in
transshipment," India said.
As far as systemic concerns go, first and foremost, ACTA
completely bypasses the existing multilateral processes
provided in particular by the WTO and WIPO (World Intellectual
Properties Organisation), India said.
Besides, the ACTA also scales up the minimum enforcement
level enshrined in TRIPS.
The floor and ceiling in TRIPS conforms to a certain
balance encapsulated in the Objectives and Principles of
TRIPS, it maintained.
"Therefore, ACTA is one of the prongs of the multipronged
efforts to make substantive and procedural changes in IP law,"
said India, arguing that its main concern is that
"enforcement" is divorced from other obligations in the TRIPS
Agreement, particularly those concerning transfer of
technology, socio-economic development, promotion of
innovation and access to knowledge.
China, Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa among others
joined India to rebuke the main drivers behind ACTA for having
undermined multilateral solutions based on the TRIPS
framework.
They challenged the estimates being touted by
industrialised countries on the issue of counterfeiting and
piracy, citing the recent questions raised by the US
Government Accountability Office. More PTI