EMERGING INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

APAA 51ST COUNCIL MEETING – NEW DELHI, INDIA

SINGAPORE REPORT 2005

by Joyce A. Tan and Jonathan Kok

Background

Although Singapore is a highly urbanized city state on an island measuring about 660 squares kilometers, densely populated with approximately four million people and with limited land resources, Singapore still conserves some natural habitats in which nature reserves occupy 2,979 hectares. These nature reserves include lowland tropical rainforest, freshwater swamp, mangrove, rocky shore, beach and coral reef.

Before its colonization, Singapore was home to no more than a few small fishing settlements and that defines our natural heritage today. There is no record of any indigenous or tribal group having resided in Singapore.

ASEAN Framework Agreement

At its 10th meeting held in June 2000, Singapore together with the other members of the Association of the Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN), introduced a Framework Agreement on Access to Biological and Genetic Resources (“ASEAN Framework Agreement”), which:

  • refers to the common interests of ASEAN countries in their ecosystems and the urgent need to protect ASEAN interests in these biological and genetic resources from “biopiracy”;
  • addresses the management and use of the diverse biological resources and the exchange of information on biodiversity conservation issues, including biosafety and access to and benefit-sharing of biological and genetic resources in the ASEAN countries; and
  • seeks to recognize, respect, preserve and maintain the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous peoples and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles to their natural resources, including genetic resources, and accord recognition and protection to traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Under the ASEAN Framework Agreement, member states inter alia –

  • aspire to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the utilization of biological and genetic resources at the community, national and regional levels; and to disallow the patenting of plants, animals, micro-organisms, or any parts thereof, and traditional and indigenous knowledge; and
  • are required to designate a competent national authority to be responsible for formulating and implementing national legislation on access and establishing procedures for the granting of prior informed consent (PIC) which respect and comply with the customary laws, practices and protocols of indigenous peoples and local communities, and establish legal processes to ensure fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of such knowledge and resources.

Although the draft text of the ASEAN Framework Agreement has been finalized and the majority of member states have signed the ASEAN Framework Agreement, there remain(s) one or two countries that have yet to sign it.

Legislative Update

Singapore continues to lack a single over-arching law on the topic of biodiversity and genetic resources, which is addressed from the various perspectives of the topic under different pieces of legislation as set out in the last report submitted in October 2004.

For the past year since such report, certain amendments have been made to legislation in Singapore in the biodiversity conservation sphere, including biosafety and access to biological and genetic resources, as follows.

Parks and Trees Act

Effective 1st August 2005, the previous Parks and Trees Act (Chapter 216 of the 1996 Revised Edition) was wholly repealed and superseded by the Parks and Trees Act 2005 (Act 4 of 2005) which continues to address inter alia the conservation of trees and plants within national parks, nature reserves, tree conservation areas, heritage road green buffers and other specified areas and restricts certain activities with respect to plants, animals and organisms in national parks and nature reserves.

National Parks Board Act

By the aforesaid new Parks and Trees Act effective 1st August 2005, the previous National Parks Act (Chapter 198A) (which established the National Parks Board and provides for national parks and nature reserves) was also amended so that it came to be called the National Parks Board Act instead and the definitions of the expressions "animal", "organism" and "plant" in it were harmonized with the definitions of the same expressions under the Parks and Trees Act.

Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act

The Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act (Chapter 92A) on the control of the import, export and introduction from the sea of certain animals and plants and parts thereof, had the lists of animals, plants and parts and derivatives thereof to which the Act relates, updated on 12th January 2005 by amendments made to the Schedules to the said Act.

Other Legislation

Apart from the above changes, there were no further amendments to legislation affecting biodiversity and genetic resources in Singapore during the period 1st October 2004 to 30th September 2005.

Focal Point for Biodiversity

The Biodiversity Centre of the National Parks Board remains the de facto focal point for matters relating to biodiversity in Singapore, in the absence of specific legislation establishing any such regulatory body or authority.

Intellectual Property Protection

Subject to any legislative changes that may be brought about in consequence of the ASEAN Framework Agreement (see above), the Singapore Patents Act continues to omit any general restriction against patent protection for inventions relating to biological material and hence effectively continues to govern the matter of patenting plants, animals and microorganisms in Singapore.

Notwithstanding the above, as signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Singapore submitted in 2000, a report pertaining to access and benefit sharing of genetic resources to the Secretariat of the CBD stating that there was no intellectual property rights over traditional knowledge related to genetic resources, a position which remains unchanged today.

Page 1 of 2