Ambassador Dacio Castillo (Honduras)

Cuba

11 CONTRIBUTION OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY TO FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF ENVIRONMENTALLY RATIONAL TECHNOLOGY

253. Cuba thanks Ecuador for its contribution and supports continuing the debate on document IP/C/W/585. Since 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change has undertaken, on behalf of the developed countries, to take all practicable steps to promote, facilitate and finance the transfer of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) and know how. 254. It is known that IPRs can be an obstacle to accessing these technologies, thus seriously undermining the balance that must exist between the interests of intellectual property rights holders and public policy interests. It is worth noting that Article 7 of the TRIPS Agreement (Objectives) states that the protection and enforcement of IPRs should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology. Therefore, all Members should be committed to the full realization of these objectives, which seek to rectify the imbalance that is inherent in the traditional system of IP protection. It would be helpful if the Members that do not agree to discuss Ecuador's proposal could provide the Council with examples of how IPRs have facilitated the transfer of these ESTs to the developing countries. 255. As regards patented ESTs, the developing countries need to make use of all the flexibilities available in the TRIPS Agreement, without restrictions. One particularly advisable option would be to use compulsory licensing. We believe that compulsory licensing cannot be an exceptional policy in the event of a country facing a health emergency.Other flexibilities related to access to ESTs might be the exhaustion regime which allows for parallel imports, exclusions from patentability and exceptions to rights conferred. 256. We should stress that there are other aspects of the current patent system that are hindering access to these technologies, such as the increase in applications for and rights conferred by patents, the proliferation of applications for and granting of low quality patents, and the expansion and strengthening of enforcement measures. This is compounded by problems stemming from insufficient descriptions of inventions, which often prevent a person skilled in the art from being able to carry out an invention, since the description is not sufficiently clear or complete. 257. With respect to accessing ESTs in the public domain, it should be remembered that the developing countries and the least developed countries lack the skills, the know how and the financial resources to make use of these technologies. Technical skills and investment are necessary to make use of ESTs in the public domain. There are also problems due to the abundance of and access to information in the public domain, an issue that has been addressed by the WIPO Committee on Development and Intellectual Property in light of its importance. 258. In short, these are particularly relevant issues which Cuba believes should be further discussed. It would therefore be very helpful if the WTO Secretariat could contribute to and expand on the document submitted by Ecuador.

The Council took note of the statements made.

11.1. The Chairman said that this item had been put on the agenda at the written request by the delegation of Ecuador. He recalled that, at the Council's meeting in March 2013, Ecuador had briefly presented, under "Other Business", its submission entitled "Contribution of Intellectual Property for Facilitating the Transfer of Environmentally Rational Technology" (IP/C/W/585 in English and French, and IP/C/W/Rev.1 in Spanish). That document had been discussed at the Council's meeting of June 2013 under agenda item "Intellectual Property, Climate Change and Development" that had been put on the agenda at the request of Ecuador. At Ecuador's request, the Council had continued this discussion at its meeting in October.

11.2. The representatives of Ecuador, Cuba, Chile, El Salvador, the European Union, India, Japan, Switzerland, the United States, China, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, and Benin took the floor under this agenda item.

11.3. The Council took note of the statements made.

IP/C/M/75, IP/C/M/75/Add.1