Proposals On How To Better Implement WIPO Development Agenda Recommendations Kept On Agenda

Today, the World Intellectual Property Organization committee on development agreed to pursue discussions on how WIPO is implementing the recommendations of its sweeping 2007 Development Agenda. The secretariat is instructed to provide a response to a set of recommendations provided by independent reviewers.

During the 18th session of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) meeting from 31 October to 4 November, the first review of the implementation of the 2007 Development Agenda Recommendations was presented (IPW, WIPO, 2 November 2016).

The Independent Review [pdf] of the Implementation of the Development Agenda Recommendations was conducted by three experts: V.K. Gupta, Pedro Roffe, and Gift Huggins Sibanda (IPW, WIPO, 23 August 2016), and provided 12 recommendations, some of which were directly addressed to WIPO.

CDIP Chair Amb. Luis Enrique Chávez Basagoitia of Peru conducted informal consultations to reach agreement on how to address the review in the CDIP and how WIPO should consider those recommendations.

Today, delegates agreed to continue considering the recommendations of the reviewers in the CDIP, and asked the WIPO secretariat to provide for the next session of the CDIP a report on the recommendations addressed to it.

Member states are also invited to provide written contributions to the WIPO secretariat, on any of the recommendations of the review, by 28 February 2017. The secretariat report should include submissions received from member states, the decision said.

SDGs Decision Still Pending

At press time, delegates were still discussing which Sustainable Development Goals apply to WIPO’s activities and how to address that discussion in the CDIP.

Also pending is the decision on which WIPO committees should report to the WIPO General Assembly on their development activities. At present, two committees do not report on such activities to the General Assembly: the Committee on WIPO Standards, and the Program and Budget Committee.

The CDIP also is also expected to come to an agreement on a potential standing agenda item on IP and development at the CDIP. These last two items have been discussed for some years, without conclusion.

 

Image Credits: WIPO