WIPO Committee On Development Opens With Questions Of WIPO And UN SDGs

The implementation of the UN World Intellectual Property Organization Development Agenda ranked high in the opening statements of developing country delegates attending this week’s Committee on Development and Intellectual Property. The participation of WIPO in the broader UN Sustainable Development Goals was also raised.

The 16^th session of the WIPO Committee on Intellectual Property and Development (CDIP) is taking place from 9-13 November.

A tentative schedule [pdf] for the week was provided today.

In their opening statements, a number of developing countries underlined the importance of the recently adopted post-2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals and how to define WIPO’s contribution in those goals.

Group B developed countries positively commented on the document prepared by the secretariat for this session on “WIPO and the Post-2015 Development Agenda” [pdf].

Brazil, on behalf of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries expressed concerns at the low number of new projects at the CDIP, with “only six projects in motion.”

Several developing countries also mentioned the ongoing independent review of WIPO Development Agenda recommendations implementation (IPW, WIPO, 26 August 2015). They underlined the need for a broad assessment, not only an assessment of development projects undertaken in the CDIP.

Some developing countries taking the floor also said that the Development Agenda implementation does not come to a halt when projects are completed and the implementation should be an ongoing process.

Also mentioned by several developing countries was the long-standing discussion on which committees should be included in the Development Agenda Coordination Mechanism.

In general, developing countries insist that all WIPO committees should report on their development activities, while developed countries generally hold the view that the Program and Budget Committee and the Committee on WIPO Standards, which currently are not covered by the coordination mechanism, should remain exempt from reporting.