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

H.E. Ambassador Dr Lansana GBERIE
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
87.   Japan's position remains unchanged. Regarding the proposal to introduce the disclosure requirement in the IP system, there is concern that the introduction of such a requirement would discourage industries from conducting research and development activities on biological materials. 88.   In addition, this delegation believes that the WIPO IGC is the most appropriate forum for holding technical discussions on genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore from the IP perspective. Given that detailed discussions have been continuously held at the WIPO IGC, we should avoid duplication of discussion. The delegation of Japan remains willing to contribute to evidencebased discussions on these issues in a constructive and effective manner.
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thus encouraged Members to submit responses to these checklists, and to update their previous submissions if they were out of date.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