Complying with the WTO-administered Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regime, the Rajya Sabha today passed by a voice-vote the Patent (Second) Amendment Bill, 1999, without conceding much ground on public health and ensuring ‘‘maximum flexibility’’ with emergency provisions.The Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with the Congress backing it. Replying to the five-hour long debate on the Bill, Commerce and Industry Minister Murasoli Maran said: ‘‘This Bill is about our international obligation. It was a WTO obligation which the country has honoured today without harming the national interest.’’ Maran accepted the Bill was entirely ‘‘re-framed’’ and ‘‘re-written’’ by the Joint Select Committee of Parliament.About the Bill, the minister said: ‘‘It would have enough powers to resist the influence of the multinational companies and check the prices of essential drugs. The Government has retained the right to invoke the provisions of national emergency and a compulsory licensing in the amended Bill.’’Giving out the list of powers the Government had in the event of a contingency, Maran said the measures included compulsory licensing, entrusting manufacture of essential drugs to third party and acquiring rights to produce medicines and import from countries where it was available cheap.
