EP calls for ban on patenting life under WTO

NOTE: This is an excerpt from a resolution adopted by the European Parliament which recommends EU policy for the renegotiation of TRIPS and other WTO agreements. The EP has taken a strong and clear position against the patentability of life forms. According to news wires*, the Parliament voted 240 in favour, 226 against and 5 abstentions on this matter. This move to exclude animals, plants and microorganisms, as well as biological and microbiological processes, from the possibility of being patented within the framework of TRIPS supports the policy advocated by many developing countries, including the entire African Group at WTO.

* (EP/WTO) EP Recommendations to Commission for New Round, Agence Europe, Strasbourg, 14 March 2001.
http://www.agenceurope.com

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Minutes of 13/03/2001 - Provisional Edition WTO Built-in Agenda negotiations A5-0076/2001

European Parliament resolution containing the European Parliament's recommendations to the Commission on the WTO Built-in Agenda negotiations (2028/2001(INI))

The European Parliament,

- having regard to Article 20 of the WTO Agreement on Agriculture, Article XIX of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and Articles 23(4) and 27(3)(b) of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS),

- having regard to its resolutions of 18 November 1999 on the communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on the EU approach to the WTO Millennium Round (COM(1999) 331 - C5-0155/1999 - 1999/2149(COS)) and 15 December 1999 on the Third Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation in Seattle,

- having regard to Rule 97(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy and the opinion of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (A5-0076/2000),

A. whereas several WTO agreements concluded as part of the Uruguay Round require fresh negotiations to be entered into by 2000 at the latest (the "Built-in Agenda"),

B. whereas this resolution expresses the position of Parliament with specific regard to the forthcoming WTO review of progress in the context of the "built-in agenda",

C. whereas, following the failure of the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle in December 1999, those negotiations could not be incorporated into a fresh multilateral negotiating round,

D. having regard to the WTO meeting, scheduled for the end of March 2001, for an interim review of the Built-in Agenda negotiations to date, [...]

I. Puts to the Commission the following recommendations:

1. Calls on the Commission to conduct the present WTO negotiations on agricultural trade, trade in services and specific intellectual property issues on the basis of the guidelines for these areas given to it by the Council and Parliament for the Seattle WTO Ministerial Conference and the recommendations set out in this resolution; [...]

PROTECTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

31. Regrets the limited scope of the negotiations on protection of intellectual property under the Built-in Agenda, which, apart from questions concerning protection of geographical indications for wines and spirits and extending protection to other agricultural products, only covers plant variety safeguards;

32. Calls for a broad review of the TRIPS agreement with a view to removing obstacles to the transfer of knowledge to developing countries, reinforcing and clarifying the provisions on access to medicines, to ensure that life-saving drugs are made as widely and cheaply available as possible in developing countries, and ensuring that WTO rules are in conformity with the Convention on Biodiversity;

33. Insists on effective protection for geographical indications and designations of origin in respect of all agricultural and processed food products dealt with in these negotiations;

34. Advocates the establishment of a multilateral register of geographical designations of origin within the meaning of Article 23(4) of TRIPS which, in addition to protected designations of origin, must also include the relevant national safeguards and multilateral procedures for notification and mutual recognition;

35. Regards it as desirable to extend protection of geographical indications for wine and spirits to other agricultural products, in particular also in the interests of better marketing of such products from developing countries; believes that a reinforcement of the regulatory framework will allow diversification of production and consumer protection;

36. Calls on the Commission to be vigilant, in the negotiations on specific plant variety safeguards and other rights pursuant to Article 27(3)(b) of TRIPS, as to the compatibility of WTO rules with the provisions of the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity and, in the process, take account of the special interests of developing countries in their biological heritage and the interests of indigenous communities; therefore calls for the negotiations to review the content of this Article as demanded by various blocs of developing countries (notably Brazil, India and the African nations);

37. Calls on the European Union to defend the principles laid down in the 1992 convention on biodiversity and the FAO's international undertaking on plant genetic resources and supports the ban on the patenting of animals, plants, micro-organisms and biological and microbiological processes;

38. Calls for such intellectual property protection to be allowed only if it involves an invention of an innovative nature for industrial application, if access to the original genetic material is gained lawfully with the informed consent of the donor or custodian of the resource, and if the economic benefit is equitably shared between such donors or custodians and the party wishing to commercialise the material in accordance with the principles of Article 8(j) of the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity;

39. Takes the view that the ongoing negotiations concerning the TRIPS agreement should strengthen the provisions for the local production and marketing of drugs where there is an overriding national or supranational interest in the prevention or alleviation of epidemic disease (such as HIV/AIDS); [...]