The Future of TRIPS and the Trade in Genetic Resources

Cui Fan
University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China

 
Abstract: Since its entry into the WTO ten years ago, China has been increasingly involved in building new rules to make multilateral trading systems more development oriented. In the past decade, both developing and developed WTO member nations have debated whether the TRIPS agreement should expand its definition to cover new areas such as genetic resources and traditional knowledge. This article argues that although the genetic resources-based market is huge, developing countries have benefited little from it. Specifically, the current market mechanism and system provide little incentive to developing countries to protect biodiversity. Expanding TRIPS to cover new areas such as genetic resources and traditional knowledge can make multilateral trade fairer and more balanced and will enable developing members to better protect biodiversity.
Key words: TRIPS, genetic resources, traditional knowledge, biodiversity

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