There is a need to improve Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) frameworks and regulations in Southern African Development Community (SADC) Member States and consistently enforce them, Mr Calicious Tutalife, the Acting Director of the Industrial Development and Trade Directorate at the SADC Secretariat, has said.
In his remarks at the opening of SADC IPR training workshops for the Support to the Industrialisation and Productive Sectors in SADC (SIPS) Programme in Harare, Zimbabwe, on 5th October 2022, Mr Tutalife noted that there is limited awareness of the SADC Intellectual Property (IP) Framework and of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) at various levels in the public and private sectors.
IP refers to creations of the mind. This can be an invention (patent/utility model), a design (industrial design), a brand name (trademark), or a literary and artistic work (copyright). Intellectual property protection is critical to fostering innovation. Without protection of ideas, businesses and individuals would not reap the full benefits of their inventions and would focus less on research and development. TRIPS is the most comprehensive multilateral agreement on IP.
TRIPS is relevant to the pharmaceutical sector and anti-retroviral (ARV) value chain. IP and patent law allows pharmaceutical companies to protect their investment in research and development of new products through monopoly rights. TRIPS, however, allows “compulsory licensing” whereby the monopoly effect of a patent is suspended and under defined circumstances, third parties can produce and supply the patented product.
Mr Tutalife said despite the obvious advantage, some SADC countries have not yet domesticated the public health related TRIPS flexibilities within their national laws. It is within this context that the SIPS programme organised a regional capacity building training on strengthening of regional and national IPR Policies and Regulations and TRIPS compliance.
The training was delivered in collaboration with Africa Regional Intellectual Property Organisation (ARIPO) and its overall objective was to strengthen the regional and national IPR policies and regulations and TRIPS compliance. The specific objectives of the training included raising awareness among SADC Member States’ IP officials and policy makers on key issues impacting regional and national IP policies. The training also sought to raise awareness on IPR among selected SADC Member States’ small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the leather value chain and on selected companies in the ARV value chain.
The training targeted IP officials, policy makers, business owners and/or senior managers in the leather and ARV value chains. The course was delivered in a hybrid format with a limited number of participants sponsored to attend the training physically.
Three sets of trainings were delivered namely SADC IPR awareness trainings for IP officials and policy makers on 5th – 7th October, 2022; IPR Training for SMEs in the leather value chain on 10th – 12th October, 2022; and IPR Training for companies in the ARV value chain, 13th – 15th October, 2022.
It was hoped that at the end of the trainings, participating IP officials and policy makers will be knowledgeable on key IPR issues impacting national and regional IP policies. As a result, they would be better able to advise their respective Member States governments on IPR matters. Participants from the leather and ARV value chains, it was hoped, would become aware of the key IPR topics and issues that are likely to impact on their respective business. As a result, they would be able to leverage on the opportunities as well as mitigate any challenges related to IPR in their business strategies and operations.
Mr Tutalife said that in addition to the trainings, SADC Secretariat had undertaken, as part of the SIPS programme, an assessment of the SADC Member States’ TRIPS Compliance and the report will be shared with stakeholders in due course. An easy-to-use Guidelines on TRIPS Compliance was also being developed.
He said SADC intends to access foreign technology while also protecting any industrial designs, patents and trademarks and any other IPRs that its Member States may generate in the industrialisation process. The issues of IPRs are articulated in a number of SADC policy documents such as the SADC Industrialisation Strategy (2015- 2030); Protocol on Trade and Protocol on Science, Technology and Innovation.
Given the diversity of SADC Member States, and their varied levels of development, any regional approach to mutual cooperation regarding IPRs must provide sufficient flexibility, within the context of international instruments such as TRIPS, which sets the minimum standards for IPR protection and enforcement. The SADC Regional Framework and Guidelines on Intellectual Property provides guidance at regional and national levels with regards to technology transfer, impact of IPR on local and indigenous knowledge, IPR in relation to science, technology and innovation among others.
Mr Tutalife bemoaned the low investments in Research and Development saying this is an indication of the low patent registration recorded by Africa. As per the 2019 First Regional Report on Research and Development Investment endorsed and approved by the SADC Ministers responsible for Education and Training and Science, Technology and Innovation, the majority of SADC Member States reported a Gross Expenditure on Research and Development (GERD) of less than 1% as a percentage of GDP.
