PAKISTAN - PATENT PROTECTION FOR PHARMACEUTICAL AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
Document: Original: English PAKISTAN - PATENT PROTECTION FOR PHARMACEUTICAL AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL PRODUCTS Notification of a Mutually-Agreed Solution
Date: 7 March 1997
Document codes: WT/DS36/4; WT/DS36/1; IP/D/2
Complainant: Venezuela
Respondent: U.S.
Third parties: Australia, Canada, EU, Norway
Dispute stage: Appellate Body
Agreements cited: Art. I, III  GATT 1994Art. 2  Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT)

PAKISTAN - PATENT PROTECTION FOR PHARMACEUTICAL
AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL PRODUCTS
Notification of a Mutually-Agreed Solution
The following communication, dated 28 February 1997, from the Permanent Mission of the
United States and the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the Dispute Settlement Body, is circulated
at the request of those delegations.
The Governments of the United States of America and Pakistan wish to notify the Dispute
Settlement Body that they have reached a mutually satisfactory solution to the matter raised by the
Government of the United States in , dated 6 May 1996, concerning Pakistan’ s obligation
under the Agreement of Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement)
to either grant patent protection for pharmaceutical and agricultural chemical products as of the date
of entry into force of WTO Agreement, or to establish systems for filing applications for patents on
such inventions and for granting exclusive marketing rights under certain circumstances.
Noting that Pakistan does not yet provide patent protection for pharmaceutical and agricultural
chemical products, the Governments of the United States and Pakistan agree that Pakistan was obligated
under Article 70.8 of the TRIPS Agreement to establish a system for the filing of patent applications
on such inventions by 1 January 1995. The two Governments also agree that Pakistan is also obligated
under Article 70.9 of the TRIPS Agreement to establish a system to grant exclusive marketing rights
to such patent applicants if they meet certain criteria. To fulfil these obligations, Pakistan President
Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari issued on 4 February 1997 Ordinance No. XXVI of 1997.
With respect to the obligations in Article 70.8 of the TRIPS Agreement, the Ordinance provides
that all applications filed after 1 January 1995 shall be considered validly filed. The Government of
Pakistan will issue regulations implementing the Ordinance providing that any person who first files
an applicationfor patent protection for pharmaceutical or agriculturalchemical productin another WTO
member after the date the Ordinance was issued will be able to file an application with Pakistan’ s patent
authorities and (1) until 1 January 2000 have as their filing date the date the application was received
by such authorities, or (2) after 1 January 2000, have the right to claim priority under the rules laid
down in Article 4 of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
Furthermore, to ensure that persons who would have filed applications from 1 January 1995
until the date the Ordinance was issued are able to do so and receive the filing date they would have
received, the regulations implementing the Ordinance will provide that:

IP/D/2/Add.1

- any person who first filed an application for patent protection for a pharmaceutical
or agricultural chemical product in another WTO Member after 1 January 1995 and
before the date of the Ordinance was issued will be able to file an application under
the system established by the ordinance;
- such applications will be accepted by Pakistan’ s patent authorities beginning on the
date the ordinance was issued and for one year thereafter; and
- the effective filing date of each such application shall be the filing date of the original
application filed in another WTO Member.
With respect to the obligations in Article 70.9 of the TRIPS Agreement, the ordinance provides
that exclusive marketing rights will be granted where (1) the applicant is granted a patent and marketing
approval on the product that is the subject of the application in another WTO Member and (2) the
applicant is granted marketing approval in Pakistan. The period of exclusive marketing rights shall
be for a period of five years after these conditions are met or until a product patent is granted or rejected
in Pakistan, whichever term is shorter. In accordance with the requirement under Article 70.9 of the
TRIPS Agreement that marketing rights be exclusive, the Government of Pakistan will implement the
Ordinance so that under no circumstances will exclusive marketing rights be subject to any limitation
or exception, including the imposition of a compulsory license. Accordingly, no party will be granted
marketing approval for a product that is the subject of exclusive marketing rights without the express
consent of the holder of such exclusive marketing rights.
As soon as possible following the date of this joint notification, the Government of Pakistan
will issue regulations implementing the Ordinance in accordance with the above-stated description.
Based on these developments, Pakistan and the United States have agreed to terminate
consultations on this matter and the United States wished formally to withdraw this matter from further
attention under the provisions of the Dispute Settlement Understanding. This agreement is without
prejudice to the rights and obligations of either Member under the Agreement Establishing the World
Trade Organization.