155. The representative of Brazil said that the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) had asked quite some time ago to be granted observer status in the Council. In the last session, Brazil and India had supported this, while other Members had not been vocal on this question. While this could not be construed as consensus, the issue had been pending for too long and the organization that had made requests should be given an adequate response. The issue was being handled by the Committee on Trade and Environment (CTE) and there were proposals before its Special Session (CTESS) regarding paragraph 31(ii) of the Doha Ministerial Declaration which referred to cooperation among secretariats of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) and the WTO Secretariat, as well as to criteria on how MEA secretariats could acquire observer status in the relevant WTO bodies. The CTESS had a mandate to agree on the criteria for observership across different relevant WTO bodies, which included the TRIPS Council. He believed that there was a forward movement in the CTESS on this issue based on proposals made by certain Members, such as Canada, Australia and the United States. The Council should either decide to accept the CBD Secretariat's request for observer status in the Council, or at least send to it information on the forward movement in the WTO on this matter.
156. The criteria that had been discussed in the CTESS referred to a direct interest in the subject-matter that was being discussed in a particular body as the basis for a positive decision. It was his understanding that it had been clear for some time that the CBD Secretariat had a direct interest in at least three agenda items that featured on the Council's agenda and which referred to the relationship between the CBD and the TRIPS Agreement. There could not be clearer evidence for indicating a direct interest justifying the Council to grant observer status to the CBD Secretariat. He suggested that the Council either resolve the issue straight away by a positive response to the request from the CBD Secretariat or charge the Chair with the task of offering a response to it which would indicate the forward movements that had been occurring in the WTO regarding the elaboration of the criteria for a decision in this respect.
