New Delhi : India has communicated its unwillingness to dilute its stance on data, intellectual property and government procurement to the European Union and the United Kingdom as part of ongoing trade agreement talks with them, officials said.
India is firm on its red lines on cross-border data flows as there is no ecommerce policy at present, while any commitments on data exclusivity and patent extensions would impact the manufacturing and distribution of generic medicines, they said.
On government procurement, India plans to stick to its stance to continue to reserve 25% for medium and small enterprises, officials said.
“The digital space and intellectual property rights are evolving areas. The red lines like data are to be kept away,” one of them told ET.
The IPR red line is of data exclusivity, which the EU has been seeking for a long. It is a provision that would hamper production of cheap generic medicines in the country, officials said.
The UK and the EU have sought amendment in India’s Patents Act to allow ‘evergreening’ of patents, especially in the pharmaceuticals sector. Section 3(d) of the Act prohibits the grant of ‘evergreening’ patents, which are additional patents for a drug with no therapeutic benefit and serve only to increase the term of patent monopoly.
“Patent monopolising is a red line for us and that’s clearly conveyed because we want generics while the EU is strong in patented drugs,” said the official quoted above.
In government procurement, India has stated that it can’t compromise on the comforts given to small and medium enterprises.
Experts said India needs to be cautious about any commitments in services trade leading to cross-border data flows.
“Even if the UK shows flexibility on the digital front, India needs to be careful and not cede grounds in the services chapter,” a trade expert said.
Similarly, any commitments on digital trade will mark a permanent shift in India’s trade policy stance on ecommerce at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) where it is opposed to any binding commitments besides having implications for India’s security.
India has so far refrained from making any international commitments on digital trade in order to protect its policy space to design national digital sector policies in the future including on digital industrialisation.
