WIPO Asked To Improve Its Reporting On Development Agenda Implementation

The World Intellectual Property Organization annual self-evaluation of the implementation of its 2007 Development Agenda was rubber-stamped by most delegates again this year at the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property. But Brazil offered detailed suggestions on ways to improve the report and ensure that past work is not being included in the reporting on new accomplishments. It also warned against confusing WIPO’s Development Agenda work with its broader activities for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“Someone had to play the ‘bad cop’,” said the Brazilian delegate, who added later about the WIPO assertions in the report that they have a saying in Brazil: “In God we trust. All others must bring data.”

WIPO Report

Every year since the adoption of the World Intellectual Property Organization Development Agenda, the Director General provides a report on the implementation of the Development Agenda and its 45 Recommendations by the UN agency.

The report [pdf] was provided by the secretariat for the 21^st session of the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property, which took place from 14-18 May.

The report included two parts: One highlighting the implementation and mainstreaming of the Development Agenda (DA) into WIPO’s regular programme activities, and the second part describing key developments in the implementation of the ongoing DA development projects.

According to the report, the WIPO Academy remains the core entity for IP training and human capacity-building, in particular for developing countries, least-developed countries and economies in transition. In 2017, the Academy provided training to about 64,000 participants, the report says.

By the end of 2017, 35 projects were approved, implementing 34 out of the 45 Development Agenda Recommendations, for a total estimated financial resource of over CHF 30 million (US$ 30 million), according to the report.

The report said that in the WIPO program and budget for the 2018/19 biennium, development and the SDGs are cross-cutting topics, which have been mainstreamed across all WIPO Strategic Goals.

Suggestions for Accuracy

Most delegations taking the floor during the debate praised the report and WIPO’s efforts on the Development Agenda, though some in the hallways indicated support for Brazil’s suggestions.

Developed countries, which opposed the Development Agenda, said the 2018 report emphasises a wide range of projects and activities which contributed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

However, the Brazilian delegate remarked that the UN-wide SDGs developed last year are much broader than the DA Recommendations, which were developed over a decade ago specifically to WIPO activities.

The delegate asked that the secretariat report “should not conflate DA recommendations with SDGs. Although there are some interfaces between both topics, they are different initiatives and, therefore, should be treated separately.”

For the Development Agenda Recommendations, Brazil had detailed suggestions for the report, as follows (paraphrased from delegate statement):

• the report´s structure could be improved by listing all of the Development Agenda Recommendations and informing all WIPO´s activities are being undertaken in each one of them only for that specific year. Example: recommendation 32, regarding IP and Competition Policies in 2017: WIPO has done x, y, z.
• Unlike the annex, though, the report would list only initiatives that started in the alluded period. That way, by excluding measures undertaken in the past, member states would have a more precise picture of WIPO´s activities for a specific period.
• In many parts of the report, there is a lack of data or the period the activities were taken or there is a lack of both (p. 10, par. 33 and 11, point iv)
• It could be asked whether many paragraphs of the report add real value (example: pag. 17 paragraphs 50 e 51).

The original draft Development Agenda was put forward in 2004 by Brazil and Argentina. The Brazilian delegate underlined the progress made to date, but said “a long path lies ahead” in the implementation of the Development Agenda.

The director general’s report, he said, “falls short of its potential,” and many of the “flaws contained in the previous ones, underscored by many member states, including this delegation, have not been properly addressed.”

Little Change Expected

WIPO Deputy Director General Mario Matus said the secretariat took note of the remarks. Sources later said the secretariat uses a template for member states to provide information for the report and that it is difficult to improve, indicating that little change could be expected.

At the close of the meeting, the United States pushed back against Brazil’s attempt to include in the chair’s summary a reference to its suggestions made during the week. In the end, one sentence loosely referring to countries’ interventions was included.

Projects Still Under Implementation

At the end of 2017, six projects were still under implementation:

“(i) Intellectual Property, Tourism and Culture: Supporting Development Objectives and Promoting Cultural Heritage in Egypt and Other Developing Countries;

(ii) Project on IP and Socio-Economic Development – Phase II;

(iii) Project on Capacity-Building in the Use of Appropriate Technology-specific Technical and Scientific Information as a Solution for Identified Development Challenges – Phase II;

(iv) Cooperation on Development and Intellectual Property Rights Education and Professional Training with Judicial Training Institutions in Developing and Least Developed Countries;

(v) Strengthening and Development of the Audiovisual Sector in Burkina Faso and Certain African Countries – Phase II; and

(vi) Project on the Use of Information in the Public Domain for Economic Development.”

 

Image Credits: WIPO Flickr