This book by Dr Veena Jha is a collection of papers on the theme of transfer of technology, environmental non-tariff barriers to trade and related issues.
She should be commended for putting together detailed grassroot studies of problems of technology transfer in the age of globalisation. Three papers in particular contain a wealth of information on how environmental issues are impacting trade and development in India.
Pranay Lal has documented the high costs of obtaining the ISO 14000 certification. He shows that the main motivation for obtaining the certificate is corporate image rather than improvement in quality.
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Ghayur Alam has shown how IPRs are hindering the transfer of environmentally sound technologies. Atul Kaushik and Mohammed Saqib have explained how the European Union is using environmental standards to scuttle agricultural exports from India. These field studies are extremely useful for understanding how the IPR regime is impacting the Indian economy.
The case for adopting the IPR regime rested on two pillars. One, the IPR regime would encourage multinationals to transfer their technologies to India through foreign direct investment or joint ventures with Indian partners. Two, armed with these frontier technologies, the parallel free trade regime ushered in by the WTO would enable India to exploit export opportunities.
The papers in this volume, however, paint a different picture. HFC134a is an agent that is an eco-friendly replacement for the ozone layer damaging CFCs.
It is reported that Indian firms who were interested in importing the technology for the production of this material found that most of the HFC134a producers contacted