The Left has warned the Government against rushing the third Patents (Amendment) Bill to meet WTO’s January 1 deadline, saying it is inadequate in addressing concerns related to healthcare and development of indigenous pharma industry.In their policy statement, the Left parties have said that the deadline should not be ‘‘used as a plea to hasten through legislation for which the country might have to pay a heavy price later’’.‘‘The Left is strongly of the opinion that any hasty passage of the Bill, without an informed discussion, will not be in the largers interests of the country,’’ the note said. This runs counter to a consensus between the Congress and the BJP to pass the Bill this Winter Session so that India fulfils its commitment to have in place by January 1 a regime that is compliant with the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS).The Left, in turn, claimed that there is already a ‘‘precedent’’ of India failing to meet an earlier patent-related deadline. The reference was to the transitory arrangement of Exclusive Marketing Rights for a 10-year period between January 1, 1995, to December 31, 2004. The Left said the Bill introducing EMR was passed only in 1999 with retrospective effect ‘‘though the TRIPS agreement required that the country provide for the same by January 1, 1995.’’What the Left has glossed over is that India had complied with the 1995 EMR deadline by promulgating an ordinance on December 31, 1994. Secondly, like other developing countries, India has committed itself to opening on January 1, 2005 the ‘‘mail box’’ containing product patent applications filed during the transitory period. If the necessary amendments are not in place on that date, India would run the risk of facing sanctions from the WTO on the complaint of other countries.
