[A2k] WIPO Assembly: WIPO creates "Provisional Committee" for Development Agenda

[Sangeeta]

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Sangeeta

SUNS #5887 Wednesday 5 October 2005

south-north development monitor SUNS [Email Edition]



Development: WIPO creates 'Provisional Committee' for Development Agenda

Geneva, 4 Oct (Sangeeta Shashikant) -- Agreement was reached on 3 October

night on two issues that have preoccupied and divided the WIPO General

Assembly - how to take the Development Agenda Initiative forward and the

future work plan on the Draft Substantive Patent Law Treaty (SPLT).



After more than a week of intense negotiations, the WIPO General Assembly

Tuesday morning formally adopted decisions on these two issues.



On the Development Agenda, members agreed to establish a "provisional

committee" to take forward the process of the Intergovernmental

Inter-sessional Meetings (IIM) and report back to the 2006 General Assembly.



The decision on the Development Agenda states that:



"Considering the need to make progress in integrating the development

dimension in WIPO broadly so that concrete and practical results can be

achieved in the most timely and efficient manner, the General Assembly

hereby decides:



- To constitute a Provisional Committee to take forward the IIM process to

accelerate and complete the discussions on proposals relating to a WIPO

Development Agenda and report with any recommendations to the General

Assembly at its September 2006 session.



- In the interim, and without prejudice to the provision of technical

assistance, the PCIPD will cease to exist.



- The work of the Provisional Committee shall not prejudice the activities

of the other WIPO bodies in discussing all matters relevant to development.



- The Provisional Committee shall have two one-week sessions, and the

deadline for submission of new proposals shall be the first day of the first

session of the Committee."



The Permanent Committee on Cooperation for Development Related to IP (PCIPD)

is an existing committee on cooperation for development that deals with

technical cooperation. During the negotiations, the developed countries

wanted to shift the venue of the Development Agenda issue to the PCIPD but

this was opposed by most developing countries, especially the Friends of

Development Group of 14 countries.



On the future work plan of the Draft SPLT, the Decision states that Members

agreed that a 3- day informal open forum would be held in Geneva in the

first quarter of 2006 on all issues that have been raised in the draft of

the SPLT or that Member States wish to include in the draft SPLT.



The various issues will be discussed with contributions from speakers

reflecting a balance of geographical representation and perspectives, and

technical expertise. Member States may submit proposals for issues and

speakers for the forum until November 15, 2005.



The Decision adds that "the Chair of the WIPO General Assembly will conduct

consultations on the draft program with all interested Member States and the

Director-General will publish the final program in January 2006."



The Decision further states that following the informal open forum, a 3-day

informal SCP session will be held in Geneva to agree to a work program for

the SCP, taking into account the discussions of the open forum. WIPO will,

in the measure possible, provide financial assistance to facilitate the

participation of developing countries.



The Decision also states that an ordinary session of the SCP for a duration

of 5 days will be held, to commence work on the work program of the SCP

agreed at the informal sessions of the SCP.



It adds that the 2006 WIPO General Assembly will consider the progress made

with a view to determining a work plan for the following year.



While many developing-country delegates were not happy with the final

outcome relating to the Development Agenda, they felt that the Decision

enabled the Development Agenda initiative to move forward, at least for

another year.



The negotiations on this item had been deadlocked since it was first

discussed at the General Assembly last Wednesday. Intensive informal

meetings were held on the matter last Thursday and Friday evening and most

of Saturday.



The dispute was basically over the "forum" to further discuss the proposals

and recommendations.



Most developing countries favoured the renewal of the IIM process begun by

the 2004 General Assembly.



Group B (developed countries) wanted to shift the discussions to the PCIPD

which has so far only focused on technical assistance. They proposed that

its mandate can be expanded and its name changed, if necessary.



Group B, during informal consultations on Saturday, initially proposed that

the PCIPD be replaced by a "Permanent Committee on Development" (PCD). Then

it proposed that the PCIPD be replaced by a "Committee on IP and

Development" (CIPD). Its proposal however suggested that the Development

Agenda will be only one of the issues (others include technical assistance,

training and cooperation) that will be discussed in the Committee.



These proposals were not agreeable to many developing countries, as they did

not want the Development Agenda initiative to be discussed in a permanent

committee which also dealt with other technical assistance matters.



India suggested the setting up of an ad-hoc task force and this proposal

received wide support from other developing countries, although the

developed countries did not favour this approach.



During the informal meetings on Monday afternoon, there was an attempt to

link the resolution of the Development Agenda issue to the outstanding

issues on the work plan relating to the Draft SPLT.



The Swiss delegation on behalf of Group B said that it would not negotiate

on the basis of the Chairman's draft text which proposed the setting up of

an ad-hoc Committee on Development to discuss the Development Agenda

proposals. Group B insisted that discussions should be based on its proposal

to replace the PCIPD with the Committee on IP and Development (CIPD).The

Group wanted instead to proceed with discussions on the SPLT work plan.



This was widely believed to be a tactical move by Group B to have a "package

deal" on the two issues. Either it would first make progress on the SPLT and

then dictate its terms on the Development Agenda, or else it could assess

what it got out of the SPLT and link the results to what it would give on

the Development Agenda.



At this juncture, Argentina followed by Brazil, Iran and South Africa

indicated that they were not willing to proceed with the discussions on the

SPLT, as the Development Agenda was not resolved. Brazil said that it would

only discuss the Chair's text as the Chair had a mandate to prepare a text.



Eventually, a compromise was struck, to create a "provisional committee" to

take over the IIM process. In the interim, the PCIPD will cease to exist

although not affecting the provision of technical assistance to developing

countries. In any case, the PCIPD only meets about once every two years.

Since the PCIPD meeting was held in April this year, the PCIPD is not

expected to meet any time soon.



This is the first time that such a provisional committee has been created in

WIPO. It is unclear to some delegates why this solution was acceptable to

the developed countries although they objected vehemently to the idea of an

ad-hoc type Committee. Some delegates do not see any difference between the

two bodies.



Other delegates are of the view that an ad hoc (Latin phrase which means

"for this [purpose]") Committee would indicate that it was established for a

specific purpose. A "provisional committee" suggests a temporary committee.



Some developing-country delegates were satisfied that the Preamble of the

Decision provides strong language on "the need to make progress in

integrating the development dimension in WIPO broadly" with the intention to

achieve "concrete and practical results in the most timely and efficient

manner", which did not exist in the Chair's text that was being discussed.

It also speaks about "accelerating and completing" the discussions within

the two one-week sessions when it meets next year and "report with any

recommendations" to the 2006 General Assembly.



The General Assembly during a plenary session Monday afternoon also adopted

a Decision on the treaty on the protection of the rights of broadcasting

organizations.



The decision states that two additional meetings of the Standing Committee

on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) will be scheduled to accelerate

discussions on the second revised Consolidated Text (SCCR/12/2 Rev. 2) and

the Working Paper (SCCR/12/5 Prov.).



The meetings shall 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. +





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