The Government enacted two statutes to address the issues raised in the convention of Bio- Diversity and Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights. These are discussed as:
This Act aims at promoting the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources and the equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of such resources. The Act provides for the establishment of the National Biodiversity Authority at the Central level, State Biodiversity Boards at the State level and Biodiversity Management Committees at the level of the local self- government in India.
The CBD stresses on the sovereign rights of the states over its bio-resources and recognises the rights of the communities over the biodiversity related knowledge systems. Both these principles have not been adequately reiterated in the Act.
Unlike foreign nationals, the citizens and corporations in India are permitted to use country’s bio-resources and the traditional knowledge thereof by just taking the permission from the State Biodiversity Boards. This may lead to collusion between Indian Corporations/ Citizens and foreign multinational Corporations.
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The exclusive jurisdiction to decide access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge rests with the National Biodiversity Authority. It has been criticised on the ground that the authority is neither autonomous nor independent nor democratic. Although the Act, through Section 3(1), expressly prohibits the obtaining of any biological resources occurring in India or knowledge associated thereto, value added products have been excluded from this Section.
This enables not only Indian industries but also foreign corporations to manufacture and sell many plant-based products, for example Ayurvedic medicines, without the permission of the National Biodiversity Authority. Evidently the Act in itself is a welcome development but since it suffers from certain basic flaws it would require major restructuring if it were to achieve its objective.