Biotechnology A Private Company’s
Seminar Paper Perspective on National Policies
Affecting Biotechnology
Research in Thailand
K. Suwantaradon
September 1994
ISNAR Biotechnology Service BS
Seminar Papers reflect the views of the Copyright © 2001 by the International Service for National
authors and not necessarily those of ISNAR. Agricultural Research, The Netherlands. All rights reserved.
They are not official ISNAR publications. ISNAR encourages the fair use of this material.
Proper citation is requested.
A Private Company’s Perspective on National Policies
Affecting Biotechnology Research in Thailand
Kriangsak Suwantaradon, Ciba-Geigy (Thailand) Limited
I. Introduction reflect the government’s long-term commit-
It is already well known that Thailand has been ment to providing continuous support to the
one of the major producers and exporters of private sector. They also demonstrate the coun-
many agricultural products for quite a long try’s willingness to participate in biotechnology
time. It has also been realized that, among the research. We will be highlighting some of these
key factors resulting in the success of agricul- activities below and also identifying concerns
tural progress and development, is the Thai on their possible impact on biotechnological
Government’s farsighted policy in supporting research in the private sector.
the private sector in participating in agricultur-
al production and business. II. Recent Developments Related to
The seed industry has been one of the Biotechnology Research
businesses that has received much attention There are three major developments which are
from the Thai Government, resulting in an very positive for biotechnology research in
enormous improvement in crop productivity in Thailand. The first concerns the setting up of
certain crops. For nearly two decades, it has the National Biosafety Committee (NBC),
been listed as a business eligible for investment composed of government officials drawn from
privileges. This has attracted many internation- many government organizations, and the Insti-
al seed companies to invest heavily in Thailand tutional Biosafety Committees (IBC), compris-
to develop superior crop varieties and to pro- ing personnel from individual organizations.
duce high quality seed for farmers in Thailand, Soon after the establishment of these biosafety
as well as in neighboring countries. Conse- committees, two manuals of biosafety guide-
quently, there has been impressive progress in lines, for both laboratory and field experi-
the seed business, especially with regard to ments, have been made available by the
corn, sorghum and some other vegetable crops. National Science and Technology Develop-
However, such supportive policies are still not ment Agency (NSTDA). The biosafety work-
sufficient to stimulate private companies to shop organized by the NSTDA and the USAID
expand their interest and investment into other in July 1994 indicates that the Thai govern-
important crops such as rice, soybean, cotton, ment is actively trying to create awareness
sugarcane, etc. This is due to the fact that the among all parties concerned. In addition, this
private sector still needs another form of incen- workshop provided an excellent opportunity
tive which is a key factor in the development of for many government officials to upgrade their
new plant varieties. This is an effective form of knowledge and to familiarize themselves with
intellectual property rights protection, that will biotechnology research activities.
protect the proprietary products coming from The second development concerns the
their time-consuming and costly research. This announcement of the Ministry of Agriculture
legal protection will ensure them sufficient and Cooperatives in June 1994, regarding new
return on such business. regulations for bringing transgenic plants cov-
Certain government activities that have ering 40 genera into Thailand. This official
occurred recently in Thailand could be consid- announcement completed the necessary steps
ered significant for the private sector. They for the importation and the conducting of
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biotechnology research in Thailand. It also time, is that they have created a very favorable
indicates the readiness of the government to atmosphere for biotechnology research in both
facilitate requests for conducting biotechnolo- public and private organizations. However,
gy research from any organization. other actual impacts are still too far off to be
The third significant development con- evident for the private sector. This is under-
cerns the drafting of the Plant Variety Protec- standable, because they will take some time to
tion Act (PVPA), after a long wait by the pri- show results. Nevertheless, it may be interesting
vate sector. During the last 5 years, despite hav- for the private sector to consider some of its
ing had several discussions and meetings expected concerns and to propose some possi-
among public and private representatives, little ble solutions.
progress was made. Surprisingly, at the begin-
ning of 1994, two departments (the Depart- III. Anticipated Concerns Regarding
ment of Agriculture of the Ministry of Agricul- Biotechnology
ture and Cooperatives, and the Department of Government regulations . At present, the pri-
Intellectual Property of the Ministry of Com- vate sector is still not sure whether the new reg-
merce) began actively working on the drafts of ulations for biotechnology research are under-
the PVPA. These two drafts are expected to be standable and easy to follow or not for all par-
submitted to the Cabinet for consideration and ties concerned. This is due to the fact that many
for them to decide which department will be kinds of biotechnology experiments are rela-
assigned the administration of the PVPA. Then tively new for both the public and the private
it will be passed to Parliament for further sectors. Lack of scientific and biotechnology
debate. Hopefully, this will be enacted within knowledge and lack of experienced manpower,
the next 1-2 years. Furthermore, they are also together with the feelings of uncertainty about
working to create public awareness of the sig- risks, which some officials have who are
nificance and impact of the PVPA, which will involved in approving and in controlling exper-
result in the development of better and more iments, might result in unexpected delay in
productive crop varieties, and in fulfilling some research progress. Nevertheless, the system will
of the requirements of the recent GATT agree- be tested soon by some companies that are
ment. already preparing to request permission to con-
duct their biotechnology experiments in Thai-
The above developments are of the utmost land.
importance for the private sector and they seem There are several ways to remedy the
to be happening at the right time. We already above concerns. It is recommended that, at this
know that biotechnology research has now pro- initial stage, most of the biotechnology projects
gressed to the point where some products are submitted should be conducted with the close
ready to be field-tested and some even ready to co-operation of researchers from both sides. In
be marketed. Some companies in this region are certain cases, it might be possible to share some
in the preparation stage of applying to field test well-equipped research facilities that already
their Bt maize and cotton and transgenic rice, exist at a number of government biotechnology
tomatoes and squash in the near future, provid- centers with trained scientists. These biological
ed the situation is favorable. The private sector experiments should be monitored periodically
is therefore very pleased to see that such posi- by experts from the relevant fields of study.
tive developments are taking place. Controlling these experiments might be rather
The immediate impact of these develop- rigid at the beginning, by keeping strictly to the
ments, which could be realized within a short guidelines and the regulations set by the NBC
56
N a t i o n a l  P o l i c i e s
and IBC. But this should be relaxed later on, being drafted, is to protect breeders’ rights for
when the researchers have gained more experi- their new plant varieties. The extent of protec-
ence. Furthermore, the additional training of tion seems to be enough for new varieties gen-
personnel on both sides should be made con- erated from classical breeding programs. But
tinually, and the regulations should be revised there is some concern about an effective protec-
from time to time to keep up with the latest tion for any new transgenic plant variety arising
progress in biotechnology research. These mea- from an integrated improvement program con-
sures are recommended to ensure that activities sisting of conventional breeding and biotech-
are carried out with minimum risks and with nology methods. As an example, let us consider
acceptable safety standards for the public and the case of a new transgenic crop variety con-
the environment. taining an engineered gene which is already
It is probably too early to comment now patented in certain countries. This variety
about the effectiveness of the newl y a v ailable reg - might be eligible for protection by using the
ulations. Howev er , it is certain that we need PVPA in Thailand. But the protection will not
ap p r opriate regulations to ensure that possible cover the proprietary gene. Consequently,
risks can be minimized and prog r ess can be made. other breeders can utilize this new variety, as
well as its gene, to develop their proprietary
Losing information and research material. varieties. Testing or commercializing some
There is some uncertainty about the safety of transgenic materials might not be possible due
critical information and research material being to the risk of losing the proprietary gene, and
submitted to the government authorities and therefore will be limited to those that can be
being gathered during experimentation. This is protected by other means.
because the approval and control of such exper- It is apparent that the legal protection
iments are the responsibility of several different offered by the PVPA is not sufficient to encour-
government offices. Some of this information age wide-scale biotechnology research and to
and material could be of interest to competitors benefit from the private sector’s effort in
as well as to certain parties who oppose various biotechnology. The need for inventing another
kinds of research. Losing control of this critical effective form of legal protection to cover prod-
information and material could be a severe loss ucts and processes from biotechnology is
to the concerned companies later on. inevitable in the near future. This will ensure
It is rather difficult to give suggestions as to that the system of incentive is continued or cre-
ho w to avoid such problems. This is the res p o n - ated, in order to encourage more investment in
sibility of the individual institutes, which should both new biotechnology and conventional
establish competent control systems. Perhaps it plant breeding. The government should con-
might be worthwhile considering the extent of sider how to provide appropriate protection for
su p p o r ti v e information which will be req u e s t e d them and what should be the suitable means
fr om private companies for consideration and (through the draft PVPA or by including it in
ap p r oval by the authorities. This information patent law). This would have a significant
should be treated as strictly confidential. In addi- impact in attracting more private companies to
tion, access to information and to experimenta- conduct biotechnology research and to transfer
tion laboratories and fields should be limited to their useful results to Thailand.
ca t e g o r i z ed levels of authority.
IV. Conclusion
Intellectual property rights protection. One of Recent developments involving new regula-
the main purposes of the new PVPA which is tions for biotechnology research and for intel-
57
lectual property protection of new plant vari-
eties have attracted much attention from many
private companies. The immediate impact of
these developments has been the creation of a
favorable atmosphere for conducting biotech-
nology research in both the public and private
sectors. But subsequent actions are still in the
early stage and their real impact on agricultural
research still needs more time for results to
appear. Additional relevant developments are
still expected periodically. Other matters of
concern to the private sector are government
regulations, losing information and research
material, and intellectual property rights pro-
tection.
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