Reply: Issue of India's accession to GPA is under examination. At present, any commitment on this issue is not feasible.
US 83:
Report by the Secretariat (WT/TPR/S/249): III. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY MEASURE: (3) Measures Directly Affecting Exports: (4) Measures Affecting Production and Trade: (v) Government procurement: Page 110, paragraphs 238 240 generally:
To what extent, and under what conditions, are service providers located outside India eligible to bid for government tenders? Does India currently impose any restriction on foreign financial institutions being able to provide financial services to public sector undertakings and government entities?
Reply: Various norms for obtaining bids in respect of Central Government procurement are contained in the Rules 149 to 154 of chapter 6 of General Financial Rules, 2005, while those for procurement of services are contained in the Rules 163 to 185 of the same chapter. There is no general bar on participation of global firms in Central Government procurement. A copy of the General Financial Rules is available at the website: http://finmin.nic.in/the_ministry/dept_
expenditure/GFRS/GFR2005.pdf.
US 84:
Report by the Secretariat (WT/TPR/S/249): III. TRADE POLICIES AND PRACTICES BY MEASURE: (3) Measures Directly Affecting Exports: (4) Measures Affecting Production and Trade: (vi) Intellectual property rights: Page 114, paragraph 250
The Secretariat discusses the proof of efficacy requirement in Section 3(d) of India's Patent Act. Under Section 3(d), if an applicant demonstrates the novelty, non obviousness, and industrial use of a product, can it still be denied a patent on the grounds that it fails to also demonstrate a significant improvement in efficacy? Does the Government of India consider this requirement to be in line with TRIPS Article 27(1) which states that patents shall be available for inventions in all fields of technology provided they are new, involve an inventive step, and are capable of industrial application? Please explain.
