118. The representative of the European Communities said that, as a co-sponsor of document TN/C/W/52, his delegation had agreed to include the three TRIPS issues as part of the horizontal process and to support parallel progress in each of the three issues at stake. Despite the failure of the Ministerial Conference in July, his delegation remained committed to this common platform. Like other co-sponsors, his delegation considered that technical discussions on these three TRIPS issues had been exhausted and it was time to move to text-based negotiations. With regard to the disclosure issue, his delegation had taken a constructive stance from the outset and expressed readiness to meet developing countries' concerns while preserving the balance of rights and obligations of the patent system. He reiterated three key elements of the common platform. First, a legally binding disclosure requirement should be introduced regarding the country of origin or source of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge in patent applications, with this requirement applying to international, regional and national patent applications at the earliest stage possible. Second, Members should work further on the concept of traditional knowledge in order to agree on a definition. Third, patent applications should not be processed without fulfillment of the disclosure requirement, which would occur if the patent applicant failed or refused to declare the required information and if, despite being given the opportunity to remedy that omission, continued to do so. While his delegation did not necessarily share each element of every disclosure proposal, he said that document TN/C/W52 was a common platform shared by a wide range of WTO Members. In conclusion, he reiterated his delegation's commitment to engage in constructive discussions on this issue.
