Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations
     Geneva

 STATEMENT BY INDIA

On Agenda item 16   : REPORT ON THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL COMMITTEE ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AND GENETIC RESOURCES, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE (IGC), Delivered by Mr. Anil Kumar Ganeriwala, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Ayush on 6 October 2016.

Mr. Chairman,

I’m speaking in my national capacity.

At the outset, India would like to congratulate WIPO’s International Bureau for providing a comprehensive report on the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions, for the 2016/2017 biennium.

The IGC has held two sessions on Genetic resources as per the mandate and developed “second Revision of the Consolidated Document relating to Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources” which is annexed to the document WO/GA/48/9.

The Seminar on Intellectual Property and Genetic resources in May, 2016 prior to IGC 30, gave more clarity and provided a platform to understand different perspectives.

Mr. Chairman,

We take note of  the progress made during IGC 29 and 30 on genetic resources but it is a matter of concern that the “second Revision of the Consolidated Document relating to Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources” is full of open brackets and no consensus has been achieved. It is important that all the member States engage in the negotiations in good faith for mutual benefits.

India is rich in Traditional Knowledge, a large part of which is widely spread which may or may not be confined to a particular community and may subsist in codified, oral or others form. We have a heritage of traditional medicinal knowledge, which has an immense social, cultural, economic and commercial value. There is an urgent need to intervene and protect such knowledge from misappropriation while providing space and environment for dynamic development of Traditional knowledge for the benefit of custodians of such knowledge and other members of the society.

Mr. Chairman,

Protection of GR, TK and TCEs against misappropriation is an issue of priority for us and therefore, we attach great importance to the work of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC).

India has developed Traditional Knowledge Digital library (TKDL) which has been a pioneering initiative in providing defensive protection to India’s traditional knowledge specifically related to traditional medicinal knowledge including ancient Indian traditional knowledge of Ayurveda &Yoga. TKDL is a tool to enable patent examiners to examine claims of novelty made in patent applications.

As one of the countries that continues to be affected by misappropriation and bio-piracy, we support an early finalization of international legal instruments on all three issues, Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Traditional Cultural Expressions. The absence of such a legally binding instrument(s) has allowed the continued misappropriation and bio-piracy of genetic resources and traditional knowledge which is resulting to the imbalance of the global intellectual property system.

We would like to add that in the 31st session of IGC on Protection of Traditional knowledge, the core issues identified by the Chair of IGC are well thought of and would help us in resolving the outstanding issues.

For us, it is important to address ‘the tiered approach of the scope of protection for different types of Traditional Knowledge based on characterisation and use of Traditional Knowledge and accordingly agree to moral and economic rights as appropriate.

India is of the view that we must ensure appropriate moral and economic rights for widely / freely available traditional knowledge which has immense commercial value and is vulnerable for misappropriation.

With these words I Thank You Chair