First Geneva Dialogue On Traditional Knowledge This Week

A multi-stakeholder group open to participants will meet this week for the first Geneva Dialogue on Traditional Knowledge, to informally discuss negotiations at the World Intellectual Property Organization scheduled to resume next week.

The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture (ACIPA) and the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) are holding the all-day dialogue this Friday, 21 March.

“The objective of this dialogue is to provide an informal space to debate key issues relevant for the effective development and implementation of an international regime for the protection of TK, with a primary focus on the ongoing process at the IGC.”

The IGC is the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, which will meet from 24 March to 4 April.

More information on the dialogue is available here.

According to the ICTSD website: “The dialogue will thus bring together a multi-stakeholder group of country delegates, experts, academics and indigenous people representatives to discuss the current direction of the IGC negotiations on TK. The morning sessions will provide opportunities to discuss the IGC draft text on TK, its relationship to the CBD Nagoya Protocol, and the treatment of customary law and its role in securing effective TK protection. The contribution of proposals included in the recent IGC draft text on GRs to the prevention of TK misappropriation will also be examined. The afternoon sessions will address key issues in the draft TK text, as well as cross-cutting issues in the draft GRs text, such as: i) scope; ii) economic rights/beneficiaries; iii) shared TK and iv) limitations and exceptions.”