What is data protection?

Regulatory data are the research and test results generated by plant science companies to prove the safety and efficacy of a product. The research required for a crop protection product to become registered is very detailed and demands investment of significant resources. The protection of regulatory data is essential for innovation in development of new crop protection products. 

 

Data protection is a means of protecting the data submitted by companies for registration of a product from unfair commercial use (free-riding) by competitors, to maintain existing chemicals in the marketplace and to encourage investment in innovations for chemicals not protected by patent. Data protection does not guarantee a return on the investment in innovation.

Regulatory data is required to be protected from unfair commercial use by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) under its Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and the data should not be disclosed in an inappropriate manner.

Data protection is standard practice in countries that have comparable regulatory systems to Australia. Periods of protection in those countries generally range from 3-15 years depending on the situation.