NGO seminar urges campaign against 'unfair' biopiracy

JAKARTA (JP): Activists urged on Saturday a further delay of the enforcement of trade related aspects of intellectual property rights, which should have begun in January.

In a workshop on the piracy of biological resources, or biopiracy, activists asserted that the interests of local communities, who are said to own these resources, had yet to be protected by law.

The House of Representatives will hold a hearing on Monday with the government about a draft on patent regulation.

"People aren't ready to use patents, and developed countries are abusing this for their own interests," said Tini Hadad, an executive board member of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation.

In view of this Tini said the enforcement of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) here should be delayed.

Indonesia signed the agreement at the World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in Morocco in 1994.

It was ratified in Law No. 13/1997. However, the law is to be reviewed to better meet WTO standarda, thus delaying the agreed time of enforcement, which was set for January 2000.

Riza Tjahjadi, who chairs the Pesticide Action Network in Indonesia, said the hearing was believed to be in anticipation of the review on TRIPS by WTO next June.

State Minister of Environment Sonny Keraf, who addressed the workshop, described biopiracy as a new form of imperialism noting that developed states benefited from developing countries' slow anticipation of patents.

"It's ridiculous if we have to pay to use herbs growing in our land which we've used since ancient times," Sonny said.

The minister said a patent is an acknowledgment of intellectual rights, but added it was not fair to patent biological diversity.

Riza said Shiseido, a well-known Japanese cosmetic firm, had quietly patented several local traditional formulas of herbs and spices.

Among the formulas patented by Shiseido were antiaging agents made from Sambiloto (Andrographis panicurata) and Kemukus (Piper cubeba), and hair tonic from Javanese chili, Riza said. (08)