Full Agenda For WTO TRIPS Council Next Week

The World Trade Organization committee addressing intellectual property will face a full range of issues when it convenes for the first of three scheduled meetings this year.

The 14-15 March meeting of the Council on the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) will tackle issues that have been tied to the larger round of market-opening negotiations ongoing at the WTO, according to sources in Geneva.

The meeting will be followed by a 16-17 March special negotiating session on a proposal to establish an international system for notification and registration of geographical indications for wines and spirits. Geographical indications (GIs) are products named for their geographical origin, such as champagne.

GIs also are on the full TRIPS Council agenda, as a review of the existing provisions is mandated. But discussion of a related proposal to extend protection of GIs to other products beyond wines and spirits is taking place separately, in consultations led by the WTO director-general.

The other issues on the full council’s agenda include a mandated review of TRIPS Article 27.3(b), which relates to the patentability of plants and animals. Under the declaration of the 2001 WTO ministerial in Doha, Qatar, the review also is considering the relationship between TRIPS and the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore. The council was mandated to fully consider development issues in its deliberations.

WTO Deputy Director-General Rufus Yerxa is leading separate consultations on a developing country proposal for an amendment to TRIPS requiring patent applications to include evidence of prior informed consent to use local materials and of the sharing of benefits.

Another issue before the council is whether to extend a moratorium on “non-violation and situation complaints.” At the WTO, member governments may bring a complaint if another member’s action harms their trade in goods and services, even if the action did not violate any WTO rules. The complaint process also could apply to TRIPS issues but a five-year moratorium in the original 1994 TRIPS agreement has been subsequently extended up to now. Some countries are pushing for an end of the moratorium.

Finally, the council will look at compliance with TRIPS Article 66.2, which required developed country members to encourage their companies to transfer technology to least-developed countries. Some developed countries recently issued reports on their performances.