[A2k] eIFL statement WIPO Committee on Development and IP

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

Statement by Electronic Information for Libraries at CDIP/1

Mr Chairman, may I first congratulate you on your election and I wish
you success in steering the work of this new Committee.

Electronic Information for Libraries is an international foundation that
enables access to knowledge by library users in developing and
transition countries by negotiating fair licences with commercial
publishers for electronic resources, supporting the development of
strong national library consortia, building capacity in copyright issues
and sharing knowledge on alternative models, such as open access
publishing and open source software for libraries.

We welcome the adoption of the 45 agreed proposals at the General
Assembly in 2007 which, we believe, heralds an era of new dialogue on
the relationship between intellectual property and development. We
welcome the establishment of this Committee to develop a work programme
for the implementation of the adopted recommendations and to monitor and
report on progress. We are grateful for the opportunity to contribute to
the work of the committee; we believe that NGOs have demonstrated that
we can provide a positive contribution to the discussions through our
practical experience and specialist knowledge.

We agree with the comments of the distinguished delegates of Brazil,
Chile and South Africa with regard to the 19 proposals for immediate
implementation. We believe that the proposals may warrant further
scrutiny during this week.

For example, in proposal number one, that technical assistance shall be
development-oriented and demand driven, it is important that planned
activities reflect the purpose and spirit of the Development Agenda. For
example, we believe that seminars in the copyright field should
represent the interests of all stakeholders including libraries and the
public interest. Regional and national programmes should give equal
weight to flexibilities such as exceptions and limitations, and the
value of the public domain.

We support recommendations 8 and 9 to take into account the priorities
and special needs of developing countries in WIPO's technical assistance
programme and to make available advice on the understanding and use of
flexibilities contained in the TRIPS agreement.

If, for example, an LDC deems it a priority to increase the number of
trained doctors and nurses in order to achieve its Millenium Development
Goals to reduce child mortality and to combat HIV/AIDS and malaria, it
might wish to boost its education and training sector. One strand of
this policy might be to ensure that there are appropriate and adequate
exceptions and limitations in national copyright law to support
education and libraries, upon which students in developing countries and
LDCs entirely depend for their learning materials.

We would be glad to provide expertise, through the technical assistance
programme and in accordance with the principle of transparancy in
recommendation four, on any priorities within our competence that a
Member State may have e.g. ensuring access to knowledge when copyright
laws are being updated for the digital environment; ensuring that
adequate provisions are in place to facilitate major national projects,
such as digitising national cultural heritage.

Mr Chairman, we have been following the discussions for the last three
years. Our members in 50 developing and transition countries are
heartened by the progress made thus far, and we look forward to a
fruitful discussion and to making a positive contribution to the work of
this committee.

Thank you, Mr Chairman.

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Thiru Balasubramaniam
Geneva Representative
Knowledge Ecology International (KEI)
thiru@keionline.org


Tel: +41 22 791 6727
Mobile: +41 76 508 0997