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

H.E. Ambassador Dagfinn Sørli (Norway)
United States of America
4; 5; 6 REVIEW OF THE PROVISIONS OF ARTICLE 27.3(B); RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TRIPS AGREEMENT AND THE CONVENTION ON BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY; PROTECTION OF TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND FOLKLORE
70.   The United States' position on this issue remains unchanged. Regarding genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore, we continue to believe that WIPO serves as the best forum to address these issues. WIPO IGC is looking at addressing unresolved issues and working on a common understanding of core issues, using an evidence-based approach and examples of national experiences. The United States would continue to engage in technical discussions in that forum and looks forward to hearing more from the demandeurs regarding data supporting their position on this issue. With respect to the various requests made, the United States is not in a position to support these requests, but remains open to discussions, including bilaterally with delegations.
The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the issues at its next meeting.
21. The Chair said that the next three agenda items concerned the Review of the Provisions of Article 27.3(b), the Relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Folklore. Following past practice, he proposed that these three items be addressed together.
22. The Chair recalled that one tool for the review under agenda item 3 was the information provided by Members in response to a list of questions on Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement. The "Annual Report on Notifications and other Information Flows" that had been introduced at Council's meeting in March, had illustrated that responses to this checklist had been rather sparse recently. So far, only 28 Members had responded to the list of questions on Article 27.3(b), with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia being the most recent Member to submit responses. He encouraged delegations to submit responses or update their previous responses, as well as notify any relevant changes in legislation.
23. The Chair recalled that two long-standing procedural issues under these items had also been discussed extensively, on the record, at every regular meeting of the Council for almost ten years now:
a. First, the suggestion for the Secretariat to update the three factual notes on the Council's discussions on the TRIPS and Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and related items; these notes were initially prepared in 2002 and last updated in 2006; and
b. second, the request to invite the CBD Secretariat to brief the Council on the Nagoya Protocol to the CBD, initially proposed in October 2010.
24. Following suggestions made at the June 2021 meeting, the Chair had raised these questions with delegations again during the preparatory consultations on 6 October. While he had not detected any movement in delegations' positions on these two issues, he had noted a willingness to engage bilaterally on possible solutions in this regard. He encouraged delegations to pursue this option to resolve these differences soon.
25. Members' positions on these issues were well known and already extensively recorded in the Council's minutes. He encouraged delegations to focus on suggesting solutions, when addressing these procedural questions.
26. The representatives of Brazil; China; Bangladesh; India; Indonesia; Zimbabwe; the Plurinational State of Bolivia; Nigeria; South Africa; Canada; the United States; Japan; Australia; and the United Kingdom took the floor.
27. The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to the issues at its next meeting.
IP/C/M/103, IP/C/M/103/Add.1, IP/C/M/103/Rev.1