Tech Transfer Clause Sought In Trips Pact

Commerce ministry sources said that it was likely that no final report would be submitted by the committee on trade and environment since no consensus had been reached on several issues. It is likely that the committee will submit a position paper to the ministers in Singapore, the sources said.

Sources here said that the finalisation of the agenda for the Singapore meeting had also been postponed. The agenda was scheduled to be finalised on November 7.

India, a member of the trade and environment committee, has been stressing the importance of technology transfer in relation to trade.

Sources said that chances of negotiations in relation to trade and environment during the Singapore meeting are not very bright since there has been no substantive agreement on any of the issues.

 

One of the issues relates to the relationship between multilateral environment agreements and the WTO.

Several developing countries are arguing that not much change is required in the WTO to make it compatible while the developed countries are arguing that a lot of changes are required to make it compatible. At a recent developing countries meet held in Delhi, on the issue of trade and environment, there was strong objection to unilateral action and disguised protection through trade measures taken for environmental purposes. It was argued that trade is not the primary cause of environmental problems while linkages between the two do exist. The meeting felt that further work in all these issues is required under the 10 items being considered by the existing committee.

India is concerned that developed countries are reducing access on plea of environment being endangered. Further, developed countries are exporting domestically prohibited products and are hurting the developing countries through their system of disposal of hazardous substances. The developed countries, in turn, are arguing that developing countries must maintain several environmental standards. Adoption of a new environment certification ISO 14000 has been put forward.