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

H.E. Ambassador Dr. Walter Werner
5   PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE

87.   Canada continues to firmly believe that the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity are complementary, and that there is therefore no need to amend the TRIPS Agreement in this regard. 88.   Canada welcomes the ongoing work of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). Canada continues to believe that the IGC is the best and most appropriate forum for discussion on these complex issues, providing an important venue to bring together expert views, to discuss their IPrelated dimensions in order to identify evidence-based, balanced, appropriate and mutuallybeneficial approaches. Canada has been, and continues to be, an active and committed participant to this important work, and welcomes the concrete discussions and exchanges of national experiences at the IGC, which are so important to accurately pinpointing the issues at hand. In this regard, Canada looks forward to the upcoming session of the IGC this December. 89.   Similar to our positions at the IGC, Canada also continues to welcome presentations by any interested Members containing the latest information on the operation and functioning of their national IP regimes concerning genetic resources and traditional knowledge, to inform other Members in this Council. Canada notes the valuable and factual exchanges that have taken place on other issues at recent meetings of the TRIPS Council, such as on "IP and Innovation" and "IP and the Public Interest", and would welcome presentations and communications on national regimes regarding genetic resources and traditional knowledge at future meetings of the Council, with a view to informing the TRIPS Council Membership in this regard. This suggestion remains without prejudice to our position that the IGC remains the most appropriate forum for negotiations in this area. 90.   With respect to procedural matters at the TRIPS Council, as Canada has previously noted, and without prejudice to our position on substantive matters, Canada can support from a procedural standpoint a briefing from the CBD Secretariat to the TRIPS Council, should there be sufficient interest from other Members on the matter. Canada could also support the compilation of the three factual notes on the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD (documents IP/C/W/368/Rev.1, IP/C/W/369/Rev.1, and IP/C/W/370/Rev.1) by the WTO Secretariat. Canada remains of the understanding that this would remain an information collating exercise, and in both cases, this is without prejudice to national positions on these issues.

The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matters at its next meeting.
14.   The Chair proposed that, following past practice, the three agenda items would be addressed together. Members had seen important developments in these areas, over the last decade. However, information on those developments had not been shared with the TRIPS Council. For example, the Review of Article 27.3(b) was based on an Illustrative List of Questions agreed by the Council. To date, only 25 Members had submitted responses to that list and there had been no responses or updates since 2003. Similarly, there had been no notifications of domestic mechanisms to protect genetic resources and traditional knowledge under Article 63.2 TRIPS. He encouraged delegations to submit or update responses and to notify relevant laws and regulations to the TRIPS Council. This would definitively facilitate and enrich the discussions. He recalled that there had been no new developments on two long-standing procedural issues, namely:
a. The suggestion, first made in November 2012, that the Secretariat update the three factual notes on the Council's previous discussions on TRIPS/CBD and related items; and
b. The proposal, initially submitted in October 2010, that the CBD Secretariat be invited to brief the Council on the Nagoya Protocol to the CBD.
15.   The representatives of India, Egypt, China, Brazil, Bangladesh, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Ecuador, Chinese Taipei, Chile, South Africa, Indonesia, Canada, Thailand, Australia, Japan, the United States of America, and Switzerland took the floor.
16.   The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the matters at its next meeting.
IP/C/M/90, IP/C/M/90/Add.1