What’s at stake in Hyderabad :

What’s at stake in Hyderabad :

Context :

• India must counter Japan’s U.S.-style pressure at the RCEP talks and ensure affordable generic medicines.

Discussion about leaked documents :

• All public discussions on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are centering around leaked documents.
• The RCEP will open two of the world’s fastest-growing economies to new standards of Intellectual Property (IP) protection with some unforeseen consequences.

Intellectual Property (IP), investment and RCEP :

• Formation of Investor State Dispute Settlement mechanism and to include IP as an investment is major conditions that have been put forth both in the TPP as well as the RCEP.
• IP as an investment will lead to private companies raising investment disputes against the host country in case when legal regime doesn’t favour them.
• These disputes mostly get initiated by MNCs and especially the pharmaceutical industries.
• Japan’s insistence on the inclusion of this clause comes as no surprise as it is the third-largest RCEP investor country.
• Countries like India and China, which will be the destinations for the investments, should include safeguards against these measures.

The new reforms :

• The leaked IP chapter shows that both Japan and South Korea are mounting pressure to implement a TRIPS-plus regime in IP.
• Such pressure is damaging to developing countries that have benefited from generic competition.
• The few IP reforms discussed in the RCEP include data exclusivity, patent term extension, and much more lenient criteria for patentability.
• Following those would mean delay in the entry of generic versions of medicines, extension of patent monopoly for a longer time.
• The strong MNC lobby growing in Japan, especially on the pharmaceutical side, is a reason for its insistence on stricter IP rules. by Otsuka for the treatment of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB).

MFN Clause: what it means to India? :

• The WTO has a most-favoured-nation (MFN) clause that obliges the concessions offered to the MFN to be offered to others.
• If India has an agreement with Japan (through the RCEP), India will be obliged to offer the same concessions to the U.S. as well as the other members of the WTO.
• The negotiating pattern reflects the reality of international law making.
• It is evident that developed countries are using FTAs to expand the existing standards of IP.

What should India do? :

• At the 19th round of the RCEP negotiations currently on in Hyderabad, India must resist Japan’s U.S.-style pressure in this regard.
• India should not only proudly protect their laws in the RCEP negotiations, they should also encourage other countries to adopt and use similar measures that ensure generic competition.