WIPO Committee On Development and IP Agrees On Future Work, Keeps Several Issues Open

The World Intellectual Property Organization Committee on Development and Intellectual Property in its latest meeting agreed on a list of items to be discussed at its next session. No consensus was found on a potential biennial conference on IP and development, but discussions are set to continue. The committee also agreed to a suggestion to invite the team conducting an independent review on the implementation of the Development Agenda Recommendations to further explain some of their own recommendations.

The 20^th session of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) took place from 27 November to 1 December.

The committee could not agree on some issues, such as an African Group proposal to hold a biennial international conference on IP and development, but decided on a list of future work items for the committee at its next session.

The list includes an annual report on WIPO’s contribution to the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its associated targets, and the continuation of the discussion on the way to address the SDGs in future CDIP sessions, including the request to establish a permanent agenda item. Several delegations in closing statement on 1 December underlined the importance of the SDGs, such as Costa Rica for the Group of Latin American and Caribbean countries (GRULAC), Indonesia for the Asia and Pacific Group, and Senegal for the African Group. Senegal called for a standing CDIP agenda item for the SDGs.

The CDIP is set to continue the discussion on the African Group proposal on the biennial conference on IP and development. Senegal said on 1 December that the African Group “does not lose hope” on the issue, while South Africa voiced disappointment and said the group did not “anticipate stiff resistance” to the biennial conference.

The future work also includes the continuation of the discussion on two recommendations made in the Report [pdf] on the Independent Review of the Implementation of the Development Agenda Recommendations: recommendations 5 and 11.

Recommendation 5 suggests that WIPO should consider linking Development Agenda Recommendations (DARs) to expected results contained in the Program and Budget.

Recommendation 11 calls for a mechanism to be set up to report on the agreed recommendations contained in the evaluation reports and on the mainstreamed outcomes of the Development Agenda projects.

According to the summary [pdf] by the chair, the Review team (V.K. Gupta, Lead Evaluator, Pedro Roffe, IP and Development Expert, and Gift Huggins Sibanda, IP and Technical Assistance Expert), which authored those recommendations is expected to be invited to the next session of the CDIP to provide further explanations on those two recommendations. In closing comments, several delegations underlined positively the convening of the review team, such as GRULAC, Georgia for the Group of Central European and Baltic States (CEBS), the Asia and Pacific Group, and the African Group.

Eight out of the 12 recommendations of the independent review were adopted at the May CDIP session (IPW, WIPO, 20 May 2017). At the next session of the CDIP, delegates are expected to discuss the modalities and implementation strategies of those adopted recommendations, on the basis of the compilation of member states’ inputs.

Also on the list of items for the next session is a discussion on issues under the agenda item “IP and Development”, based on the inputs of member states. After years of discussions, a decision was reached at the May session of the CDIP, installing a new standing agenda item on IP and Development. Developing countries had insisted that the CDIP should have this separate agenda item, while some developed countries opposed it, saying the subject was already in the name of the committee.

According to the summary by the chair, some proposals for issues under this item were put forward during this session, and it was decided that member states can submit proposals in writing to the secretariat by the end of February 2018, to be discussed at the next session.

Delegates should also be continuing the discussion on a roadmap for promotion of the usage of a Web forum established under a development project on IP and technology transfer, identifying common challenges, and building solutions.

The CDIP reviewed progress made in several development projects, and agreed to extend the second phase of the project on intellectual property and socioeconomic development.

The CDIP took note of a number of documents, such as the document [pdf] on the contribution of the relevant WIPO Bodies to the implementation of the respective WIPO Development Recommendations, and the measures undertaken by WIPO to disseminate the information contained in the WIPO database on flexibilities.

 

Image Credits: Emmanuel Berrod, WIPO