[A2k] Agenda item on broadcasting treaty (and webcasting) resolved at WIPO General Assembly

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

The agenda item on broadcasting has been decided in informal
consultations held this morning.  We do not have a clean text yet  but
it looks as if there will be two additional meetings of the Standing
Committee on Copyright and  Related Rights (SCCR) to accelerate
discussions on the second revised consolidated text (SCCR/12/2/ Rev.2)
of the broadcasting treaty and the Working Paper (SCCR/12/5 Prov.) on
how to include webcasting.

The idea is to "aim to agree and finalize a Basic Proposal for a  treaty
on the protection of the rights of broadcasting organizations  in order
to enable the 2006 WIPO General Assembly to recommend the  convening of
a Diplomatic Conference in December 2006 or at an  appropriate date in
2007."

Some delegations view this as a mixed result and note that there will be
a lot of homework to do at the next sessions of the SCCR's.

For some the WIPO Secretariat is happy because there is some  forward
progress on this agenda item.  The phrase "to agree" after  "shall aim"
was bitterly contested.  The Group B countries (industrialized
countries) did  not want the phrase "to agree" in the final text.
During the informal consultations, one developing country official
pointed out that if there was "no agreement", the Diplomatic Conference
would be very undiplomatic. He asked "what kind of multilateral process
is this with no agreement?"  In the end the Chair was able to bridge the
gap between the two camps and "to agree" was included in the final
text.  The final text of the General Assembly decision on this agenda
item will be posted once it has been received.



Thiru Balasubramaniam