This report identifies options that negotiators and policy-makers could pursue in order to reach a permanent solution at the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the problems some developing countries say they face when buying food at government-set (or government-administered) prices under their public stockholding programs for food security purposes. The …
In one fell swoop the us has dealt a crippling blow to the Canadian lumber industry, slapping a 27 per cent duty on softwood timber imports from the country. The us salvo is the latest move in a protracted dispute spanning almost 20 years. Its significance for Canada can be …
There is disappointment down under over the us farm bill which has recently become a law. The us bill will provide new subsidies for domestic farmers over the next decade. It raises subsidy rates for soyabean, wheat, corn, cotton and barley. Australian trade minister Mark Vaile says that a dithering …
amid uproar, parliament recently passed the controversial Patents (Second Amendment) bill. Even though Union commerce minister Murasoli Maran gave an assurance that all safeguards to ensure easy availability of drugs at affordable prices were incorporated in the bill, there were voices of dissent. It was argued that the government had …
India can really get going when it needs to, even in the midst of troubled times both inside and outside. This was proved last week by the smooth passage of the Patents (Second Amendment) Bill through both houses of Parliament. Some amendments were accepted, others were discussed and clarified in …
UPDATE Unsustainable Tower of Babel Barely a hundred days before the biggest environmental event of the decade takes place in Johannesburg, negotiators are floundering in a sea of unpromising text. Three preparatory committee (prepcom) meetings have resulted in little more than a shopping list of issues that need to be …
Brazil is set to challenge the controversial us farm subsidy programme. It is likely to file a case with the World Trade Organisation (wto) regarding the farm bill that would deprive the Brazilian soyabean and cotton farmers of more than us $1.5 billion a year in exports while boosting annual …
In 1995, Indian exporters got a rude shock when a consignment of Darjeeling tea was rejected by Germany. The reason for this drastic measure: the tea leaves contained excessive pesticide residue levels. The unsavoury incident left a bitter aftertaste in India, but the fact remains that the tea did contain …
What is the idea behind the fsm? I looked at the kind of social structure of the society I wanted to live in, and I said, since I am not allowed to live in that society with proprietary software, I just won't use them. The aim of the fsm is …
What is the general understanding of the term ‘pesticides’? In the Asian and South Asian countries, people often term pesticides as ‘medicines’. I have heard this in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and India. This is a wrong notion that the pesticide manu facturers have succeeded in implanting in the minds …
Unmasking the dragon Two and three wheeler population is exploding in Asia. The health implications are scary: they emit dangerous pollutants that have gone unnoticed till now ASIANS are riding high on dragons that they cannot get off. The dragons are small but far too many. Consider this: About 85 …
cashew farmers in Kerala are a hapless lot. They are dogged by the falling prices of their produce and stiff competition caused by the wto regime. However, there is hope in going organic. This has been stated in a study prepared by M Abdul Salam, the head of the Cashew …
the choice of venue was clever and the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center added to the security paranoia. The result was that it combined to give trade negotiators somewhat of a breather when they met in Doha, Qatar, for the fourth ministerial conference of the World Trade …
However, the Doha declaration does not take a decision on whether countries with insufficient or no manufacturing capacities in the pharmaceutical sector will be allowed to import generic drugs to deal with a health crisis. Instead, it calls upon the trips council to
agriculture remains the biggest source of inequity in the world trading system. Unlike telecom, financial, and legal services, farming practices in the North have stoutly resisted the logic of market forces. Farming in the North thrives on prodigious subsidies and price support systems combined with coddling protection through high tariffs …
In June 2000, seven months after non-governmental organisations demanded that the WTO look beyond trade concerns at the doomed Seattle ministerial, a WTO dispute settlement panel (DSP) ruled in favour of public health and against free trade for the first time, in a case involving Canadian asbestos exports. WTO representatives …
Developing countries also fear the huge costs associated with greener technologies, which will be unbearable by their domestic industries. It could make their goods uncompetitive in western markets. This unequivocal opposition to greening of trade is what brings the motley crew of poor countries together. “If there’s one thing that …
they might well be the modern-day buccaneers. To further their research, agricultural and pharmaceutical companies often tap local communities for traditional knowledge relating to the use of biological resour ces. The conglomerates lose no time in appropriating this painstakingly assimilated information. And make a fast buck by developing products based …
The 4th wto ministerial conference in Doha has granted that governments are free to take all necessary measures to protect public health. Simply put, governments can override patents without the threat of a backlash of large pharma multinationals. It is now upto governments to use these powers to bring down …
