[Ecommerce] SUNS: NGOs urge WIPO to move Development Agenda forward

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

*NGOs urge WIPO to move Development Agenda forward
*
*Geneva, 21 July (Kanaga Raja)* - Civil society groups have called on
the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to move the
Development Agenda forward with concrete recommendations to the WIPO
General Assembly meeting later this year.

The groups made this call at a press briefing Wednesday just as the 3rd
session of the WIPO Inter-sessional Intergovernmental Meeting (IIM) got
underway (20-22 July). The 3rd IIM has been tasked with reporting back
to the General Assembly on the outcome of the discussions on the
Development Agenda that was launched in October 2004.

Two previous IIM sessions were held in April and June where several
proposals were tabled by members on the Development Agenda.

At the press briefing Wednesday, Thiru Balasubramaniam of the Civil
Society Coalition said that "current trends to expand the scope of
protection for patents, copyright and related rights under WIPO's aegis
vitiate countries' policy space afforded to them under the TRIPS
agreement, the Doha Declaration and other international agreements. We
welcome the Development Agenda as a best endeavour to mainstream the
development dimension into WIPO's core. Civil society will not
countenance the erosion of public policy space designed to protect
public health and access to knowledge."

Sangeeta Shashikant of Third World Network said that the current global
IP system is dominated by a paradigm of "more rights the better" and
WIPO in furtherance of this paradigm has taken on a "maximalist IP
agenda" advocating that strong intellectual property rights are the only
way to promote creative intellectual activity, and that it will
guarantee development benefits.

The WIPO Development Agenda is a critical response to this paradigm, she
added.

She said that following the obligation to implement the TRIPS Agreement,
which sets minimum IP standards, it became clearer that IP protection
has serious cross-cutting implications for several different areas of
public policy such as health, environment, education and promotion of
science and technological development.

And there is a broad feeling among civil society that TRIPS minimum
standards are already too high for developing countries as these were
based on the standards of industrialised countries. While many
developing countries today are still grappling to implement the
"minimum" IP standards prescribed by TRIPS, understand the costs and
benefits of these standards and implications on society, extensive
norm-setting, which in many ways goes beyond TRIPS, has and is taking
place in WIPO, she stressed.

She noted that many public interest NGOs, scientists and academics from
the North and South have been calling for a major reform of the
intellectual property system. She recalled that more than 500 renowned
scientists, economists, legal experts and public citizen groups in a
'Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property
Organization' urged WIPO to embrace a more balanced agenda of promoting
creativity and technology transfer in line with public interest,
expressly noting that "Humanity faces a global crisis in the governance
of knowledge, technology and culture".

She also said that the proposal by the Group of Friends of Development
(FOD, comprised of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania
and Venezuela) concretizes the call for reform into concrete suggestions
aimed at mainstreaming the development dimension into WIPO's activities.

The FOD proposal covers four key areas: the mandate and governance of
WIPO; norm-setting; technical assistance; and transfer of technology.

Sangeeta said that public interest NGOs had actively contributed to the
discussions at the first and second IIMs, and have supported many of the
proposals and concrete suggestions of the FOD.

She noted that 112 public interest NGOs have signed a statement,
endorsing many principles in the FOD proposal and recommending WIPO
Member States to consider five main aspects of the FOD proposal:

* Amend the WIPO Convention to expressly incorporate A Development
Dimension consistent with WIPO obligations as a UN Agency;

* Consider the Elaboration of a Treaty on Access to Knowledge and
Technology;

* Establish an Independent WIPO Evaluation and Research Office;

* Adopt Principles and Guidelines for the Technical Assistance
Programme; and

* Reform WIPO Norms and practices by adopting a work plan to formulate
and adopt principles and guidelines for norm-setting activities in WIPO,
to undertake independent, evidence-based "development impact
assessments" and to ensure wider participation of public interest NGOs
at WIPO, in particular by establishing a system of holding public
hearings prior to the initiation of norm-setting activities.

In that statement, public interest NGOs have also emphasized the need
for policy space for all countries to make their own development
strategies and the need for WIPO's technical assistance to promote the
full range of flexibilities provided by TRIPS.

She stressed that these public interest NGOs are not against
intellectual property rights altogether but are for systems that reward
creativity and innovation that strike the right balance between
rightsholder and the rights of the public such as consumers of essential
goods as well as other users such as small and medium-sized enterprises
in developing countries.

She added that the statement by the public interest NGOs is also a call
for Member States to take urgent action to translate the proposals by
the Group of Friends of Development into concrete recommendations for
the General Assembly to adopt and take forward.

Maria Julia Olivia of the Center for International Environmental Law
(CIEL) said that the core of the debate is not the need to introduce
development into the international IP system.

This has already been widely recognized by different international
organizations, she said, pointing to the Doha Deceleration on TRIPS and
Public Health, the Sao Paulo Consensus of UNCTAD, the WIPO Assemblies
themselves, and the Doha Plan of Action of the Group of 77 and China.

She stressed that the ongoing discussions with regards to the WIPO
Development Agenda are therefore about taking specific steps for WIPO to
place development at its centre, as well as for all WIPO work and
activities to reflect a more balanced, comprehensive, and coherent
approach to promoting innovation and creativity.

As the 3rd session of the IIM commences, the crucial point is moving the
WIPO Development Agenda forward with concrete recommendations to the
WIPO Assemblies.

She noted that many of the proposals on the table particularly those put
forth by the FOD and the African Group are not only important to ensure
the WIPO improves its contribution to sustainable development but are
also coherent with other international and regional laws and policies.

The FOD and the African Group, Olivia said, propose undertaking
independent, evidence-based 'Development Impact Assessment' to consider
the possible implications of each norm-setting initiative for core
sustainable development indicators such as innovation, access by the
public to knowledge and products, job creation, poverty alleviation,
equity, respect for cultural diversity, protection of biodiversity,
health, and education, particularly in developing and least developed
countries.

Teresa Hackett of the Electronic Information for Libraries (eIFL), which
represents some 4,000 academic and research libraries in developing
countries, said that WIPO strongly influences national IP legislation
and policies and the decisions taken in Geneva impact directly on the
lives of ordinary citizens around the world.

She cited as examples the availability of generic medicines for critical
diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria; the ability of a software
developer to innovate by building on existing ideas without costs,
waiting periods or application forms for software development; and a
consumer being able to record their favourite TV program or make a
compilation of favourite tracks from their legally acquired CD collection.

She said that for eIFL members, access to information and knowledge is
critical to the education and training needs of poor countries whose
human resource is central to their development.

Copyright was a major concern as it is a core component of the current
discussions on a Development Agenda. The erosion of access to knowledge
through over-restrictive copyright laws has the effect of sabotaging
development.

She stressed that a Development Agenda that takes account of the needs
and stage of development of a country is crucial to libraries and their
users.

Hackett expressed concern over the global trend to maximise IP, often in
favour of a narrow range of rightholders, at the expense of society as a
whole and in particular developing countries.

The current 'one size fits all' approach to copyright law is unjust and
inequitable.

She said that it is unfair that developing countries are expected to
adhere to very strict regimes that developed countries did not have to
adhere to when they were in the developing stage.

These regimes included the upward harmonization of the term of copyright
protection resulting in the reduction of the public domain on which
opportunities for learning and creativity depend; new layers of rights
on information; technical protection measures that prevent users from
availing of lawful exceptions; non-negotiable licences that over-ride
fair use provisions; and free trade agreements resulting in higher IP
standards.



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