The passing of the country's first comprehensive intellectual property rights law is a milestone in its path to modernisation and economic growth. Gamal Essam El-Din reports On 29 May, Egypt's first independent Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) law came into being after passing through the People's Assembly with a large majority. The 199-article landmark law's stated aim is keeping Egypt in tandem with the world's tremendous international technological developments and its membership commitments to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), especially where the Trade Related Intellectual Property rights (TRIPs) agreement is concerned. The law is also poised to pump more foreign direct investments into the country. The IPR law includes four principal chapters. The first devotes 63 articles to dealing with such areas as patent rights, schematic layouts for integrated circuits and undivulged information. These articles will be applied by two ministries -- Scientific Research and Health and Population. The second chapter deals with trademarks and statements, geographical indicators and industrial designs and drawings -- to be made use of by the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade. The articles dealing with author property rights in the third chapter will be implemented by the Ministries of Education and Telecommunications and Information Technology. The articles of the last chapter tackles the area of botanical varieties and will be implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation. The IPR law, which was approved in principle on 16 June 2001 following six months of parliamentary debates, is seen by People's Assembly Speaker Ahmed Fathi Sorour as a big step in the history of Egypt. "It promotes Egypt's image as an investment-friendly haven in the Middle East and puts it at the forefront of countries keen to abide by international commitments," Sorour said. Despite acknowledging that the law is a progressive step that will modernise Egypt technologically, MPs cautioned it could leave many national industries highly vulnerable to unfair foreign competition. They singled out the negative impact of the application of the TRIPs agreement on Egypt's drug industry. The TRIPs agreement, signed in 1995, grants developing countries a 20-year protection period for their industries against foreign competition. However, Hossam Badrawi, chairman of the assembly's Education and Scientific Research Committee, said, "The 20-year period is mentioned only theoretically in the TRIPs agreement. The pressure exerted by multinational pharmaceutical companies has been successful in reducing this period to between eight and 10 years." Badrawi and other MPs think this period is insufficient to protect the local drug industry against foreign competition. "It will leave the local drug market prey to pharmaceutical multinationals and cause a dramatic rise in drug prices," one MP said. Recent figures show that the local drug market is controlled by 10 pharmaceutical companies, four local and six multinational, which now account for 40 per cent of total pharmaceutical sales. Related stories: A stitch in time 21 - 27 March 2002 Improving aid prospects 24 - 30 January 2002 From reform to recession 27 April - 3 May 2000
