Top 30 Import Suppliers
(US $ million)

• Nigeria made significant gains in 1999 as India’s largest import supplier. In 1998, Nigeria’s market share was below 1%, in contrast to its 8% share in 1999.

Source: Government Publications of India

a.      Copyrights and related rights
b.     Trademarks
c.     Geographical Indications
d.     Industrial Designs
e.      Patents
f.       Layout designs of integrated circuits
g.     Protection of undisclosed information (trade secrets)

The Agreement sets out minimum standards to be adopted by the parties, though they are free to provide higher standards of protection.
A transition period of five years is available to all developing countries to give effect to the provisions of the TRIPS Agreement. This period ended on 1.1.2000.
No transitional period is available, however, for grant of national treatment and most-favored-nation (MFN) treatment countries that did not provide product patents in certain areas of technology as on 1.1.1995, can delay the grant of product patents in those areas for another five years i.e. upto 1.1.2005.

Where a country does not make available patent protection for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products as on 1.1.1995, they have to provide a means for accepting applications for such inventions (mailbox), apply applicable priority rights and provide exclusive marketing rights (EMRs) for such products.
The EMRs have to be provided in India only if a set of conditions have been met, i.e. where a patent application has been filed after 1.1.1995 in any WTO Member country, patent and marketing approval granted in that Member country, an application has been filed in the mailbox in India and marketing approval obtained in India.
The EMR is available for five years for grant or till the patent (Amendment) Act, 1999 was passed in March 1999 to provide for mailbox and EMR facility. As a part of the preparation at the Seattle Ministerial Conference, Members were allowed to make proposals on implementation of the WTO Agreement, including proposals to remove imbalances in the existing agreements as well as proposals to operationalise special and differential provisions in favor of developing countries.

India had, along with like-minded developing countries made proposals under this category. In respect of the TRIPs Agreements, these proposals included the following

1.     To extend the period for application of non-violation complaints to the TRIPS Agreement.
2.     To operationalise Articles 7 and 8 of the TRIPS Agreement by providing for transfer of technology on fair and mutually advantageous terms.
3.    To establish a mechanism for disclosure of the source of origin of biological material used in an invention and obtaining the consent of the country of origin so that institutional mechanisms could be established at the national level for sharing of benefits arising out of the commercial exploitation of such inventions.

• Additional flexibility for providing subsidies to key farm inputs for agricultural and rural development.
• Maintenance of appropriate level of tariff bindings on agricultural products in developing countries, keeping in mind their developmental needs and high distortions prevalent in the international markets with a view to protect livelihood of their farming population. Also linking the appropriate levels of tariffs in developing countries with trade, distortions in the areas of market access, domestic support and export competition.
• Rationalization of low tariff bindings in developing countries, which could not be rationalized in the earlier negotiations.
• Separate safeguard mechanisms on the lines of Special Safeguard Clause including a provision for imposition of Quantitative Restrictions to protect the interests of the domestic producers in the event of a surge in imports or a decline in international prices, as a Special and Differential measure.
• No minimum market access commitments for developing countries.
• Measures taken by developing country members for alleviation of poverty, rural development, rural employment and diversification of agriculture should be exempt from any reduction commitments.
• Rationalization of product coverage of Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) by inclusion of certain primary agricultural commodities such as rubber, jute, coir etc.
• Product specific support given to low income and resource poor farmers should also be excluded from the Aggregate Measurement of Support (AMS).
• Flexibility enjoyed by developing countries in taking certain measures in accordance with other WTO covered Agreements should not get constrained by the provisions of AoA.
• Substantial reduction in tariff bindings including elimination of peak tariffs and tariff escalation in developed countries.
• Expansion and transparent administration of Tariff Rate Quotas pending their eventual abolition.
• Blue box measures, de-coupled & direct payments, as well as Government financial participation in income insurance and income safety-net programs in Green Box to be included in the Amber Box to be subjected to reduction commitments.
• Accelerated reduction in AMS so as to bring it below de minimis by the developed countries in 3 years and by the developing countries in 5 years.
• Elimination through accelerated reduction in export subsidies and disciplining of all other forms of export subsidization such as export credits, export insurance and export guarantees etc.
• Abolition of Peace Clause for developed countries.