Abundance Of Latin American Candidates For Senior WIPO Post

It has been said among some member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization that the next deputy director general responsible for development should come from the Latin American and Caribbean region. If that is the case, a look at some senior officials in Geneva from the region shows a significant pool of available talent from which to draw.

With the re-election of WIPO Director General Francis Gurry this year (for another six years), the top management posts need to be filled. A short list of candidates may emerge soon, according to sources.

Some will likely be filled by existing senior managers, but some are known to be open for new faces.

Some government sources told Intellectual Property Watch they have the expectation that the Development Sector post, currently held by Geoffrey Onyeama of Nigeria, will be filled by a representative of the Group of Latin American and Caribbean (GRULAC) countries. Also said to be departing is Trevor Clarke, the current assistant director for copyright, who is from the GRULAC region (Barbados).

There does not appear to be a formal requirement for geographical rotation, however.

The principles for the selection of DDGs are outlined in the WIPO Convention. Article 9 (4) (7) states:

“The Director General shall appoint the staff necessary for the efficient performance of the tasks of the International Bureau. He shall appoint the Deputy Directors General after approval by the Coordination Committee. The conditions of employment shall be fixed by the staff regulations to be approved by the Coordination Committee on the proposal of the Director General. The paramount consideration in the employment of the staff and in the determination of the conditions of service shall be the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity. Due regard shall be paid to the importance of recruiting the staff on as wide a geographical basis as possible.”

Overall, there were some 360 applications for the senior management posts submitted to WIPO (IPW, WIPO, 15 July 2014) and among them are undoubtedly some senior officials from the GRULAC region.

For reference, here is a list of a few possible candidates (non-exhaustive, in alphabetical order by country): [Note: the names of the applicants to WIPO are confidential, so it is not confirmed that any of these individuals have applied]

Argentina – Marcelo Augusto Di Pietro Peralta, director, Office of the Director of the WIPO Academy (which is in the Development Sector)

Brazil – José Graça Aranha, regional director, WIPO Brazil Office (Rio de Janeiro), former candidate for WIPO Director General.

Chile – Mario Matus, former Chilean ambassador to WIPO and the World Trade Organization, and former chair of the WTO General Council. (Note: Matus might also be a candidate for a different senior WIPO post, according to sources)

Colombia – Marco Aleman, acting director, Patent Law Division [corrected]

Mexico – Juan Antonio Toledo Barraza, senior director of the Regional Bureau for Latin American and Caribbean Countries (which is in the Development Sector)

 

Details on the development post are as follows:

Deputy Director General – Development Sector ↓

The Sector’s key objective is to facilitate cooperation for the use of IP for social, cultural and economic development to enable greater participation by developing and least developed countries (LDCs) in innovation and the IP system. It includes:

• Coordination of the WIPO Development Agenda;
• Cooperation with African, Arab, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean countries, and LDCs;
• The WIPO Academy.