WTO Session On GIs, Part Of Doha “Final Countdown”

This week the World Trade Organization is convening informal consultations on an international register for geographical indications on wines and spirits.

The chair of the Special Sessions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Council, Darlington Mwape of Zambia, was to hold informal consultations on 1 and 6 December with an open-ended informal meeting to take place on 10 December in order to “intensify the work” of the group.

This intensification process is part of a “final countdown” for the WTO that Director General Pascal Lamy announced at a 30 November Trade Negotiations Committee meeting. Lamy said 2011 was a window of opportunity for the Doha Round of trade liberalisation talks.

Under the countdown, intellectual property issues pick up starting the week of 10 January, when two weeks of intensive negotiations are planned in Geneva.

On two other major TRIPS issues – the possibility of extending high level protection to geographical indications other than those on wines and spirits and the relationship between TRIPS and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity – Lamy has been conducting consultations. Recent “small group brainstorming sessions” on these issues have been “exploring these issues well” he said, and promised to continue talking to members about how to proceed.