[Ecommerce] Bridges Weekly: CONSENSUS JUST OUT OF REACH ON WAY FORWARD FOR WIPO DEVELOPMENT AGENDA

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/05-07-27/story5.htm

Bridges Weekly Main Page Volume 9 Number 27
27 July 2005


*CONSENSUS JUST OUT OF REACH ON WAY FORWARD FOR WIPO DEVELOPMENT AGENDA*


A three-day meeting at the World Intellectual Property Organisation
(WIPO) ended with members unable to reach a consensus on how to continue
talks on integrating development concerns into WIPO's mandate and
activities. Although most countries were in favour of holding further
sessions of the 'Inter-sessional Inter-governmental Meeting' (IIM) that
has been examining the issue, opposition from the US and Japan meant
that no such recommendation will be made to the WIPO General Assembly
when it meets in late September. Instead, the WIPO Secretariat will now
draw up a factual report of the discussions, which will be finalised at
a further meeting just prior to the General Assembly.

*Wide Range of Proposals on Development Agenda*

The 20-22 July event was the third of three sessions of the IIM
scheduled in response to a September 2004 proposal (WO/GA/31/11
<http://www.iprsonline.org/resources/docs/BrazilArgentina_WIPO.pdf>) by
fourteen developing countries including Brazil and Argentina for the
'Establishment of a Development Agenda for WIPO' (see BRIDGES Weekly
<http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/04-09-08/story1.htm>, 8 September 2004).
Debate on procedural issues had taken up some of the earlier meetings
and achieving agreement on substantive proposals by the end of the IIM
seemed unlikely, so negotiators faced the challenge of both making
progress on proposals and on reaching a decision on whether and how to
take discussions forward in the future (see BRIDGES Weekly
<http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/05-07-06/inbrief.htm#5>, 6 July 2005 and
BRIDGES Weekly <http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/05-04-13/story1.htm>, 13
April 2005).

The developing countries that endorse the 'Development Agenda' are known
as the 'Friends of Development' (FoD). At the recent meeting, their
proposals focused on five main areas: making an amendment to the WIPO
Convention; considering a treaty on access to knowledge and technology;
establishing an Independent WIPO Evaluation and Research Office (WERO);
adopting principles and guidelines for the technical assistance
programme; and reforming WIPO norms and practices, including the
development of principles and guidelines for norm-setting activities in
WIPO, the use of development impact assessments and encouraging wider
participation of civil society at WIPO.

The FoD position attracted support from a group of over 100
non-governmental organisations (NGOs), which presented a joint statement
(see http://www.ipjustice.org/WIPO/NGO_Statement.shtml) backing the
proposals. Interventions made by public interest NGOs at the meeting
emphasised that the IIM should not be debating the need to integrate
development into the international IP system, as this was already widely
acknowledged in declarations such as the Doha Deceleration on TRIPS and
Public Health, the Sao Paulo Consensus of UNCTAD, the WIPO Assemblies
themselves, and the Geneva Declaration on the Future of WIPO. The NGOs
urged members to come up with concrete recommendations for the General
Assembly.

Submissions by the African Group of countries also supported the FoD
proposals and called for action in additional areas, including the
development of a mandatory legal international instrument to protect
genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore, and further
technical cooperation between least-developed countries and WIPO with
special regard to information and communication technologies.

A group of 11 Arab states also submitted a refined proposal on ways that
WIPO could assist developing countries in commercialising their
intellectual and cultural resources. The US restated its proposal for a
partnership programme and database.
*
Debate shifts to future of IIM *

With time running out, delegates agreed that the range of proposals on
the table merited further discussion. However, divisions over the
appropriate forum for such talks proved irreconcilable. While developing
countries including the FoD and African Group pushed for a continuation
of the IIM process, some developed countries including the US, Japan,
Canada, Switzerland and the Russian Federation argued that development
issues should be examined in a 'reinvigorated' Permanent Committee on
Cooperation for Development Related to Intellectual Property (PCIPD).

Developing countries countered that doing so would sideline development
issues. In their view, moving development-related discussions to the
PCIPD would essentially relegate them to a subsidiary technical body
that lacked the authority and momentum provided by the IIM process. A
Canadian proposal to the PCIPD to broaden the scope of the Committee's
work was rejected by developing countries in April (see BRIDGES Weekly
<http://www.ictsd.org/weekly/05-04-20/inbrief.htm#4>, 20 April 2005).
Brazil and the US differed over interpretations of the PCIPD's mandate:
Brazil pointed out that the Committee had in fact no clear mandate,
while the US suggested that any uncertainty could be addressed by a
statement by the General Assembly confirming the breadth of the
Committee's mandate.

*Support but no consensus for continued IIM*

The UK, speaking on behalf of the EU, attempted to find a compromise by
suggesting that further IIM meetings be held, but that they be financed
by the PCIPD budget allocation and that they focus on a sub-set of
issues where agreement seemed closest. This move, by the country that
originally proposed moving the debate to the PCIPD, prompted hopes that
a consensus could be reached. With China and the group of Arab states
also voicing conditional support for further IIMs, Pakistan
characterised the situation as 'consensus-minus-few', and appealed for
flexibility from those opposed to further IIMs.

However, the US and Japan again indicated that they could not accept a
continuation of the IIM process. After extensive informal consultations
over most of the third and final day failed to resolve the issue, it
became clear that no recommendation could be made to the General
Assembly. Instead, it was decided that a factual summary of the
proceedings would be drawn up by the WIPO Secretariat and passed to the
Assembly. Following a suggestion from Argentina, it is likely that this
report will include a list of those delegations opposed to continuation
of the IIM.

A draft report will be available for comments from 15-31 August, after
which delegates will meet again to finalise the report prior to the
Assembly meeting from 26 September to 5 October.

The 14 Friends of Development are Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba,
Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Sierra Leone,
South Africa, Tanzania and Venezuela.

ICTSD reporting.