The World Trade Organization came into being in 1995 as the successor organization to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established in the wake of the Second World War. It is a multilateral framework (an agreement among governments) for conduct of international trade in goods and services and also for protection of
intellectual property rights, i.e., patents, copyrights, trademarks, etc and for discussion of trade related issues. The WTO has a set of multilateral agreements primarily on the rights and obligations (of governments) that prescribes for governments in formulation of rules, procedures and practices related to international trade.
Agriculture was originally kept outside the purview of GATT till 1995. However, Uruguay Round has succeeded in bringing agriculture on the main track of GATT and agriculture trade is now firmly within the multilateral trading system. All the member countries of WTO are committed to follow set of rules embodied in WTO Agreement on Agriculture which covers:
(i) Domestic support,
(ii) Market access i.e., tariffs, and restrictions on imports and exports, and,
(iii) Export subsidies. The agreement-sought reduction in trade distorting domestic policies like price interventions and subsidies; reduction in export subsidies; replacing quantitative restrictions on trade with tariffs and reduction in tariffs to encourage more and freer trade.
India has always demanded that developed countries must bring down their bound tariff rates, and suggested the creation of a separate safeguard mechanism, for food security in developing countries. In fact, India continued to emphasize on food security as a prime Non Trade Concern and wanted that any measures adopted for its poverty alleviation programmes, food security and other social objectives, be exempt from any reduction commitments, while it demanded that developed countries should cut back their domestic farm support below the de-minimis levels.
Non-product specific subsidy is calculated by taking into account subsidies given for fertilizers, water, seeds, credit and electricity. The ‘Green Box’ covers subsidies must not involve price support that is expected to cause minimal or no trade distortions.
The Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Act (PPV&FR Act) seeks to address the rights of plant breeders and farmers on an equal footing. It affirms the necessity of recognizing and protecting the rights of farmers with respect to the contribution they make in conserving, improving and making Plant Genetic Resources (PGR) available for the development of new plant varieties.
The PPV&FR Act recognizes the multiple roles played by farmers in cultivating, conserving, developing and selecting varieties. With regard to developing or selecting varieties, the Act refers to the value added by farmers to wild species or traditional varieties/ landraces through selection and identification for their economic traits. Accordingly, farmers’ rights encompass the roles of farmers as users, conservers and breeders.
The period of protection for field crops is 15 years and for trees and vines is 18 years and for notified varieties it is 15 years from the date of notification under section 5 of Seeds Act, 1966. Annual fee has to be paid every year for maintaining the registration and renewal fee has to be paid for the extended period of registration. Farmers can claim for compensation if the registered variety fails to provide expected performance under given conditions. The rights granted under this Act are exclusive right to produce, sell, market, distribute, import and export the variety. Civil and criminal remedies are provided for enforcement of breeders’ rights and provisions relating to benefit sharing and compulsory licence in case registered variety is not made available to the public at reasonable price are provided. Compensation is also provided for village or rural communities if any registered variety has been developed using any variety in whose evolution such village or local community has contributed significantly.
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