ALTHOUGH discussions on technology, the transfer of technology and intellectual property rights are taking place in other fora. We welcome the inclusion of this very important subject matter in UNCED. We believe that UNCED, which will be a heads of state conference, is the appropriate forum to lay down the over-riding principles whlch will guide other debates and negotiations like the GATT and the WIPO, which have a narrower focus.

The dominant assumption at UNCED seems to be that the transfer of environmentally sound technologies is the only solution to the environmental crisls. It is further assumed that these technologles can only be developed in the north and hence their transfer to the south needs the transfer of additional financial resources.

There are, however, three problems with the simplistic acceptance of this set of assumptions. Firstly, there is no concept of environmentally sound technologies developed by the UNCED papers. Secondly, there is no reason to assume that there can be no transfer of environmental knowledge from south to north. We welcome the growing call for endogenous capacity in science and technology. In this respect we believe there is much to learn from the experience of communities who have evolved very sound technologies in resource management in fisheries, forestry and other sectors in Third World countries. Lastly, we would also like to caution against the unquestioning call for more technology. This may result in more financial commitment which will further lead to more reverse transfers of finances south to north. Such a development will only aggravate the Indebtedness and dependency of the South.

In this respect we would like to propose:

• that in the consideration of any technologies, given the past performance of unsound and Inappropriate technologies which have created very devastating health and environmental effects In the Third World as already mentioned by many delegates, there is a strong need to develop a framework for technology assessment on environmental, social and economic grounds;
• that the development of capacity at the national level in the third world must also recognise the knowledge systems and experience of traditional communities.

On the question of intellectual property rights, which is the focal point for this Intervention, we do not believe there is an overemphasis on this Issue in UNCED. In fact, we are concerned that there is lack of sufficient focus on the question of intellectual property rights. There is presently a very serious imbalance between developed and developing countries In the area of patents. This can be seen from the fact that more than 80% Of the patents in third world countries today are owned by foreigners, mainly the TNCs of the United States, United Kingdom, (Germany and Switzerland. Over 95% are not used at all In production in these countries .

The law on patents began as an attempt to strike a balance between rewarding the inventive work of individuais and spreading knowledge which is useful to society for production purposes, hence the concept of temporary monopoly rights through the instrument of patents. However, we see that this is not the case today. It is interesting to note, too, that there has been discussion at the international level on the concept of intellectual property as a common heritage of man kind. We note that developed countries here are calling for biodiversity resources, for example. to be made a common heritage of mankind. On the other hand, technological knowledge is to be left to the private sector with Intellectual property rights law to protect transnational corporations in particular. This trend is very disturbing in light of the growing monopoly of TNCs in the area of knowledge in technology already, experience in third world countries show that there has been no effective transfer of technology in the past years.

Therefore any call for new transfer of technology will have to seriously take into account the developments in intellectual property rights, particularly in the GATT. We are very concerned that the Uruguay Round negotiations will have very serious implications in areas where there is no International consensus yet.

However, we note that the parallel process of the Uruguay Round in not brought into review in the UNCED discussion and we believe very strongly that whatever happens in the Uruguay Round will have to wait for the outcome of UNCED. This is the forum to determine the overriding princlples for technology transfer.

We note also that UNCTAD has spent almost 20 years working out a code of conduct for the transfer of technology. We do not see the results of two decades of effort incorporated into the discussions here. Although documents have been brought In to the hall, they are not being introduced formally through the UNCED process.

There has been a great deal of debate on the transfer of technology through different fora and this has to be brought within UNCED and we believe this is an appropriate forum to discuss this. Intellectual property rights are not rights at all, they are privileges and we have to safeguard the interest of the public at Iarge on environmental. economic and social grounds.

Therefore focus on intellectual property rights is indeed something that should be central for the next PrepCom in New York.

Back...