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

H.E. Ambassador Dr. Walter Werner
Bolivia, Plurinational State of
5   PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE

48.   The Plurinational State of Bolivia wishes to reiterate the relevance of document IP/C/W/545 of 26 February 2010, in which it submitted a contribution to this Council. We would like to emphasize the importance of keeping this item under discussion and on this Council's agenda. We also support the idea to update the three factual notes. The review of Article 27.3(b) is an issue within the mandate of the Doha Development Agenda under Paragraph 19 of the 2001 Doha Ministerial Declaration. Article 27.3(b) must be clarified in order to prohibit the patenting of all life forms and to protect all the rights of farmers, genetic resources, traditional knowledge and traditional practices in developing countries.

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, agenda items 3, 4 and 5 would be addressed together. He noted that there had been important developments in these areas in many WTO Members. However, these developments had not been shared with the Council. Particularly, there had been no response or update to the Illustrative List of Questions on Article 27.3(b) (IP/C/W/122) since 2003; and only 25 Members had responded at all. Likewise, there had been no notifications to the TRIPS Council of domestic laws that related to the protection of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. He encouraged delegations to submit responses to the Checklist or update their previous responses; as well as to notify any relevant changes in legislation. At the previous meeting, delegations had continued their discussion on two long-standing procedural issues, namely 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 the proposal initially submitted in October 2010 that the CBD Secretariat be invited to brief the Council on the Nagoya Protocol to the CBD. He said that he had no new developments to report in this regard.
15.   The representatives of India, South Africa, Ecuador, China, the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the United States of America, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Indonesia and Chile 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/91, IP/C/M/91/Add.1, IP/C/M/91/Corr.1