India is of the opinion that it cannot commit to adopting the concept of “Data Exclusivity” as Article 39.3 of the TRIPs Agreement does not impose such an absolute obligation. However, there was a constant pressure from the United States and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations were constantly pressuring India to adopt this concept in their domestic legislation and to extend the period of exclusivity to which India had unfortunately agreed. Also, Article 39.3 only talks about protection of data against “unfair commercial use” and nowhere about data exclusivity and therefore, a country can adopt any measures for the protection of such data. So, the question becomes How the extension of the exclusivity period would have affected the country? and whether the existing domestic legislation is enough to meet the requirements under Article 39.3 of the TRIPs
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