[A2k] Questions on TRIPS/CBD to be discussed on 15 March

[Sangeeta]

SUNS #5984 Monday 13 March 2006

Questions on TRIPS/CBD to be discussed on 15 March

Geneva, 10 Mar (Sangeeta Shashikant) -- A document entitled "Non-Exhaustive
List of Possible Topics for Further Consultations" containing a list of 11
questions on the Relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) is expected to guide consultations that the
WTO Deputy Director-General (DDG) Rufus Yerxa is expected to hold on the
afternoon of 15 March.

These consultations are to take place separately from the regular TRIPS
Council meetings that will take place on the 14-15 March followed by a
special negotiating session on 16-17 March on a proposal to establish an
international system for notification and registration of geographical
indications for wines and spirits.

The DDG is holding the consultations on behalf of WTO Director-General
Pascal Lamy under the mandate in the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration to
the Director-General "to intensify his consultative process on all
outstanding implementation issues under paragraph 12(b)".

The Director-General is to report to each regular meeting of the Trade
Negotiations Committee and the General Council and the latter is to "review
progress and take any appropriate action no later than 31 July 2006".

The consultations on Wednesday is a follow-up to the first post-Hong Kong
consultation on 17 February (see SUNS #5971 dated 22 February).

The issue of the TRIPS and CBD relationship is also an agenda item at the
regular TRIPS Council meetings. The Council will also discuss issues
pertaining to paragraph 19 of the Doha Declaration which includes the review
of Article 27.3(b) (on the patentability of plants and animals), the review
of the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement under Article 71.1, and
extending the moratorium on non violation and situation complaints.

The document listing questions on the TRIPS/CBD relationship has three
parts. The first part is on "Avoidance of erroneous patents for inventions
that involve the use of genetic resources and related traditional
knowledge". The following are the questions:

(1) Does the patent system, as presently constituted and applied, provide
effective safeguards against the grant and maintenance of erroneous patents?

(2) Is there a case for improving the functioning of the existing provisions
and principles of the patent system for this purpose and, if so, how and are
these matters that should be pursued in the context of this present exercise
in the WTO?

(3) Are disclosure requirements of the sort proposed necessary or helpful
for reducing the existence of erroneous patents?

The second part, on "Securing effective compliance with national access and
benefit-sharing regimes", has the following questions:

(1) Can the effective functioning and the enforcement of national access and
benefit-sharing regimes be secured on the basis of national legislation,
including contracts, without a disclosure requirement in the patent system?

(2) Would a disclosure requirement be helpful or necessary?

The third part, on "How the approaches and proposals that have been put
forward would contribute to meeting the above aims", lists the following
questions:

(1) How would the national-based approach and the various disclosure
proposals contribute towards achieving these aims?

(2) What would be the scope of the genetic resources and traditional
knowledge that would be covered?

(3) How would the trans-boundary use of genetic resources and related
traditional knowledge be addressed?

(4) What procedures and remedies would be applicable in cases of
non-compliance? How effective would they be?

(5) How can any undue burdens on patent offices and users be avoided? Would
any such burdens be warranted by the benefits?

(6) What would be the implications, if any, for the TRIPS Agreement or other
international legal instruments? +