HC Deb 27 June 2000 vol 352 cc461-2W
Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he has taken to assess the compatibility of(a) the Convention on Biological Diversity and (b) the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement in respect of the treatment of genetic resources. [127462]

Dr. Howells

We consider the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to be compatible, but we need to ensure that they are implemented in a mutually supportive way. For this reason we supported the recent decision of the 5th Convention of Parties (COP5) to the CBD, which asked the WTO further to explore the interrelationship between the provisions of the TRIPS agreement and the CBD.

Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make it his policy to seek an amendment to Article 27.3(b) of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement to exclude genetic resources for food and agriculture. [127465]

Dr. Howells

The current exclusions from patentability for biological materials as set out in Article 27.3(b) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement allow all WTO members sufficient flexibility to implement patent and other intellectual property regimes appropriate to their individual circumstances, within internationally agreed limits. Patents are afforded only to new technical inventions. Valid rights cannot be obtained for naturally occurring plants or animals or information concerning their genetic composition. Similarly, traditional or indigenous knowledge concerning the existence, use or properties of plants and animals is already not patentable. Given this flexibility and these limitations, we do not consider the requirements of Section 27.3(b) to be incompatible with WTO member states needs.

Mr. Baker

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will make a statement on his policy in respect of intellectual property rights over plant and animal varieties. [127466]

Dr. Howells

Patents are available only for inventions for new technical solutions. Under the Patents Act 1977 and EC Directive (98/44/EC) on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions, plant and animal varieties, or the breeding of plants and animals by traditional methods, cannot be the subject of patent rights. However, inventions concerning plants and animals may be patentable if the technical feasibility of the invention is not confined to a particular plant or animal variety. To be patentable, such an invention would have to satisfy the general criteria for patentability that the invention is new and would not be obvious to someone in the technical field.