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GATT / TRIPS CHRONOLOGYGATT / TRIPS CHRONOLOGY1945 : Uruguay Round Talks of Developed Countries Began.

1947 : General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) Signed by 23 Developed Countries.

1986 : Trade Liberalization Talks under GATT again Initiated.

1994 : World Trade Organization (WTO) Formed to implement GATT

It also included:

Agriculture

- Service

- Investment Measures

- Protection of Intellectual Property

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GATT / TRIPS CHRONOLOGY ........GATT / TRIPS CHRONOLOGY ........1994 : WTO framed another agreement on protection of intellectual property, which is called –

Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).All the Components of GATT and TRIPS declared to be effective from 2005.World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) formed under WTO to deal with patents.

Patents to be effective worldwide.

No need to cope with country to country variations in legislation.

Patents to be effective for 20 years.

Patent-holder country or company can sue against violating countries.

Economic sanctions or trade embargo by WTO against violator countries.

WIPO Highlights ........WIPO Highlights ........

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GATT-TRIPS-WTO-WIPO will destroy our local GATT-TRIPS-WTO-WIPO will destroy our local drug market, local drug industries and our national drug market, local drug industries and our national economy because -economy because -

Government has to OPEN the drug market for the foreign drug companies.

Protection to local drug industries will be lifted.

Local drug companies will face an uneven competition.

Big local drug companies will lose own local market, resulting financial crisis.

Small and medium local drug companies will face closure.

Many pharmacists and other professionals working in these local drug industries will lose their jobs.

Likewise, the Auyrvedic, Unani and Homeopathic drug manufacturers will also face crisis due to patents of traditional drug items.

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Price of the Essential Drugs will go up.

Government Primary Health Care network through out the country will be difficult to run.

Many people will be deprived of their fundamental right of getting treatment.

Mortality rates will go up in poor families.

People will have to buy patented brand drugs of foreign companies at exorbitant prices.

As there will be no import prohibition, foreign companies will not be interested to invest.

Thus no technology transfer will occur to our country.

As no new local or foreign drug manufacturing plants will be established, job opportunities for the pharmacists and other professionals will become very limited.

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What can be done ? ..................

- To find out the gaps of TRIPS patent provisions.

- Not to accept any internationally uniform patent law.

-Product patent and process patent to be considered separately.- Compulsory Licensing provisions not yet finalized. To allow local drug companies to register as many new molecules as possible.

- Manufacturing and marketing regulations to be liberalized. Some new molecules can be provided with ‘Third Party Licensing’.- To utilize the transitional period fully.

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• Patent Provisions Review• Compulsory Licensing• Transitional Period• Regulatory Exceptions or• Bolar Provisions• Export to LDC Countries• R&D Laboratory• Parallel Imports• Public Health Coverage• Bargaining with WTO• World Generic Market

INTERVENTION POLICY:INTERVENTION POLICY: