[Ip-health] From Geneva: WIPO Development Agenda meeting currently in informal discussions on procedure

[Thiru Balasubramaniam]

http://fromgeneva.blogspot.com/2006/06/wipo-development-agenda-meeting.html


      WIPO Development Agenda meeting currently in informal discussions
      on procedure

26 June 2006
Monday

12:19 PM

The second session of the Provisional Committee on Proposal related to a
WIPO Development Agenda (PCDA) is taking place at WIPO headquarters in
Geneva from 26 June to 30 June 2006. Among the issues at stake is how
this committee will take stock of the 111 proposals submitted since
September 2004 and make a decision to the General Assembly on how WIPO
implements (if at all) or establish a Development Agenda. Last Friday,
the 15 Members of the Friends of Development (Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba,
Dominican Republic, Equador, Egypt, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Sierra Leone,
South Africa, Tanzania, Uruguay and Venezuela) submitted a proposal
<http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=3D63052> to the
PCDA on a "Decision on the PCDA on the Establishment of a WIPO
Development Agenda" (PCDA/2/2). This proposal comes with an introductory
note explaining the purpose of the submission. Here are some excerpts
from the introduction which note that the

    aim of the document is to help the PCDA to fulfill the mandate
    entrusted to it by the 2005 General Assembly, by submitting a report
    with recommendations to the next General Assembly. In this
    connection, the document contains a series of decisions relating to
    normative activities, public policies and the public domain,
    technology transfer, access to knowledge, technical assistance,
    impact studies and assessments, and WIPO=92s governance and mandate.



    As regards technical cooperation for example, an effort has been
    made with the language in order to accommodate almost all the
    proposals put forward by the African Group, Bahrain and a group of
    countries, United States of America and the Group of Friends of
    Development. On that basis, the proposal would provide a basic
    framework for technical assistance that would allow effective
    progress to be made on issues that require further technical debate,
    as is the case for example with the proposals relating to financing
    mechanisms. Certain proposals of the Group of Friends of
    Development, which have not been included in this proposed
    recommendation, will be subject to further consideration at the 2007
    General Assembly.




    As to WIPO=92s normative activity, flexibilities, public policies and
    the public domain, the broad language used in the wording of the
    proposal was intended to cover the vast majority of proposals put
    forward by the developing countries; in other words, the African
    Group, Chile and the Group of Friends of Development, some of which
    have been the subject of debate since 2004.



Today the meeting began 10:32 AM and was suspended at 10:47 AM to
discuss matters of procedure with regional coordinators and interested
parties. The informal meetings are still in session. Sources say that
the Group B countries (WIPO code for rich countries) support the Chair's
suggestion to "cluster" the proposals into three baskets: (1) consensus,
(2) emergent consensus and (3) no consensus. The Friends of Development
group opposes this approach. It is unclear at this stage as to how the
week will unfold and what type of decision this committee will take with
respect to the Development Agenda.
/posted by Thiru Balasubramaniam @ 12:24 PM
<http://fromgeneva.blogspot.com/2006/06/wipo-development-agenda-meeting.htm=
l>/