Scant Hopes for South African Regulatory Reform

Although South Africa's existing Patent Act nominally affords patents a lifespan of 20 years, with payment of a renewal fee every three years, the country's intellectual property regime has continued to attract criticism.

Despite some progress in recent years, the Office of the US Trade Representative has previously argued that the existing system allows for "the erosion of patent protection through adoption of pre-expiration working that does not provide for data exclusivity or patent term restoration." South Africa is a signatory to TRIPS, although the expiry mechanism clearly works to its advantage in curtailing patent terms.

Aside from patent law, the industry has criticised the government's parallel trade policy, claiming it "invites heightened public health risks." Nevertheless, the timetable of reform is also a matter for much conjecture. Despite international pressure, the South African government is likely to be cautious about introducing reform.

Although there is a desire to improve the local industry's global profile, which requires the implementation of stricter regulation, the authorities will not want to jeopardise local manufacturing sector growth and will seek to maintain the availability of healthcare to a relatively poor and disease-prone population.
Further, the costs involved in aligning domestic processes with international norms are likely to prove prohibitive in the medium term.