ISLAMABAD, June 24: National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat has observed that it is imperative to safeguard the intellectual assets of the country in prevailing economic scenario.

The standing committee was discussing the Pakistan Intellectual Property Rights Organization (Pipro) Bill-2005 and a private member’s bill, the Services Tribunal (Amendments) Bill- 2004, at its meeting held under the chairmanship of MNA Ahmad Raza Maneka here on Friday.

The committee observed that it was also necessary to take into account the fallout of the implementation of Intellectual Property Rights regime.

The committee was of the view that it was better to implement the existing law rather than create Pipro. The reported amendments being carried out in the Monopoly Control Authority Act (MCA), 1970, can effectively address the intellectual property rights in Pakistan, it added.

The Cabinet Division secretary informed the committee that being a signatory to the Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (Trips) agreement under WTO, Pakistan was under obligation to update its intellectual property laws to provide for a comprehensive mechanism for protection and enforcement of these rights in the country.

He said Pipro would effectively deal with intellectual property rights, as the existing laws were creating problems. The committee decided to discuss Pipro along with the MCA bill in its next meeting, and directed the secretary to conduct a study to assess the impact of Pipro on the prices of different commodities.

Meanwhile, the committee unanimously rejected the private member’s bill, the Services Tribunal (Amendments) Bill-2004, with the observation that there was no need of further amending the Services Tribunal Act as it was effectively dealing with service matters of the government employees.

Later, the committee was briefed on the role and functions of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra).

The National Assembly committee criticized the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) for unannounced load shedding in the country.

The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan Niazi, MNAs Bushra Rehman, Onza Ehsan, Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada, Mohammad Faiz Tamman, Dr Sahibzada Abdul Khair, Mohammad Zubair, Samia Raheel Qazi, Shahid Akram Bhinder, Malik Allah Yar Khan, Ibrahim Jatoi and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.