149. The Chairman responded to the comments made about "shared responsibility" in respect of information and facts placed on the register. As regards a point he had made on 23 October on whether or not there would be a possibility to balance the legal responsibility for taking the register information into account, he said that, if the information was placed on the register by the notifying country, the consulting country might also have information, particularly relevant to genericness in its domestic market, that would be helpful to a discussion between the two parties. Under the notion of shared responsibility, parties would seek agreement on the facts. He said that a fact needed not be proven. If a person claimed some presumption or assumption of a fact, which turned out not to be the case, the "shared responsibility" suggested by one of his predecessors would be an option for examining and clarifying facts, so the consulting country would be able to trust that the information or facts were correct and balance this against its own domestic situation. There might be a situation where the notifying country possessed more solid information on certain aspects while the consulting country might have a better grasp of the facts in respect of other elements. This would be the kind of situation where he thought there could be some collaboration.
