H.E. Ambassador Dr Lansana GBERIE

Sri Lanka

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

75.   The protection of biological resources, traditional knowledge and folklore are important development issues for developing countries including Sri Lanka. These three issues are currently being discussed in detail at WIPO as well. However, our delegation would also like to support to keep these issues on the TRIPS Council agenda, considering the substantial importance of these issues for developing countries. In this regard, our delegation stresses the importance of the negotiation on the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD, as well as the need to protect traditional knowledge and folklore. 76.   Sri Lanka also believes that it is important for the TRIPS Council to give adequate attention to address these issues. Against this backdrop, a formal briefing by the CBD Secretariat on the latest developments of the Nagoya Protocol will be useful for Members and we also support updating the three factual briefs by the Secretariat on these issues. 77.   Therefore, considering the mandate from the Doha Ministerial Declaration and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, Targets 2.5 and 15.6, it is our responsibility to take these discussions forward towards to a meaningful outcome. Sri Lanka stands ready to engage constructively with Members on these important issues.

The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to these matters at its next meeting.

17. The Chair proposed to address these three agenda items together. He recalled that one tool for the review under item 4 was the information provided by Members in response to lists of questions on Article 27.3(b). He said that the latest Annual Report on Notifications and other Information Flows circulated by the Secretariat illustrated that responses to that checklist had been rather sparse recently. So far, only 28 Members had responded to the lists of questions on Article 27.3(b). The Chair thus encouraged Members to submit responses to these checklists, and to update their previous submissions if they were out of date.
18. The Chair noted that two long-standing procedural issues had been discussed extensively on the record at every regular meeting of the Council for almost ten years. The first was the suggestion for the Secretariat to update three factual notes on the Council's discussions on the TRIPS and CBD and related items; these notes were initially prepared in 2002 and last updated in 2006. The second was the request to invite the CBD Secretariat to brief the Council on the Nagoya Protocol to the CBD, initially proposed in October 2010.
19. The Chair noted that the delegations' positions on these issues were well-known and had already extensively recorded in the Council's minutes and therefore suggested that delegations focus their interventions on suggestions on how to resolve the differences and on how make progress on substantive issues.
20. The representatives of South Africa; India; Bangladesh; Sri Lanka; Indonesia, Brazil; Nigeria; Peru; United States of America; Japan; South Africa; Korea, Republic of and China took the floor.
21. The Council took note of the statements made and agreed to revert to these matters at its next meeting.

IP/C/M/106, IP/C/M/106/Add.1