Minutes - TRIPS Council - View details of the intervention/statement

Ambassador Karen Tan (Singapore)
C; D; E REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(B); RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY; PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE
50. The representative of Argentina said that the review of Article 27.3(b) should preserve the degree of flexibility in order to exclude from patentability plants, animals and essentially biological processes for the production of animals and plants. Similarly, the flexibility should also be maintained regarding the effective sui generis system for the protection of plant varieties. Accordingly, she said that there should be no change of Article 27.3(b) as it, together with other provisions in the TRIPS Agreement, provided a sufficient margin of freedom for Members to adjust their national systems based on their needs and interests. She reiterated that her delegation did not support the artificial parallelism between the three TRIPS issues as indicated in document TN/C/W/52. She said that misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge was a serious problem but her delegation could not support the disclosure proposal. She said that Members should continue to discuss the TRIPS/CBD issue while looking at the substantive work taking place in WIPO. She reminded Members of renewed mandate of the WIPO IGC in September 2009 and the on-going work in the CBD.
IP/C/M/62