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

H.E. Ambassador Dr. Walter Werner
5   PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE
96.   Australia believes that the WIPO IGC is best placed, with appropriate technical expertise, to consider the complex issues relating to intellectual property, genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge and cultural expressions. We hope WIPO Members will build on the momentum in the IGC process when the issue of genetic resources is next considered in 2019. 97.   Australia believes the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity are fully consistent, and that the TRIPS Agreement therefore does not need to be amended. 98.   Australia fully implements our obligations under both agreements, which we view as mutually supportive. 99.   In relation to procedural matters, Australia is open to a briefing by the CBD Secretariat on the Nagoya Protocol, and can be flexible in relation to the Secretariat updating the three factual notes.
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