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

Ambassador D. Mwape (Zambia)
B NEGOTIATION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MULTILATERAL SYSTEM OF NOTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS FOR WINES AND SPIRITS
4. Ambassador Karen Tan, the representative of Singapore, congratulated the Chairman on his election and said that her delegation would continue to support his efforts in leading the negotiations of the Special Session. She then reported on the informal consultations she had undertaken as pro tempore Chair of the TRIPS Special Session since December 2009. During that time she held informal consultations with the group sponsoring TN/IP/W/10/Rev.2 (hereinafter "joint proposal") on 16 December 2009 and with the group sponsoring TN/C/W/52 or "modalities proposal" (hereinafter "TN/C/W/52 proposal") as well as with Hong Kong, China, who had tabled TN/IP/W/8, on 4 February 2010. To ensure transparency and to report to the wider Membership on these consultations, she had also held an open-ended informal meeting of the TRIPS Special Session on 5 February 2010. She said that the remarks she was going to make largely reflected the views she had shared with Members at that 5 February meeting. 5. As an overall assessment, although the fundamental positions of delegations had not changed, it had been her sense that there was a genuine and sincere desire on the part of delegations to move forward and resolve the remaining differences in these negotiations, so as to be ready to contribute to any movements in the wider context of the Doha Round negotiations. 6. More specifically, she had noted Members had expressed their appreciation of Ambassador Trevor Clarke's report in TN/IP/19 as a fair and balanced reflection of the state of play and of remaining challenges, in particular in the two key areas of legal effects and participation, even if some points and suggestions made in the report were not shared by all delegations. With regard to the five "Guiding Principles for Future Work" in Part C of the report ("The Way Forward"), she had noted a general agreement as to the usefulness of these principles for future work of the Special Session. Individual principles enjoyed different levels of Members' enthusiasm. Some delegations had highlighted particular concerns and there were finely nuanced views on what role they should play in the future work of the Special Session. It seemed nonetheless clear that the guiding principles represented a succinct crystallisation of both common ground and remaining differences in these negotiations, even though there was no suggestion that they should form the basis of negotiations. 7. As regards the structure of future work, there was a widespread view among delegations that the discussion should avoid rhetorical debates and follow a practical approach, focusing in part on concrete practical examples and concerns regarding the implementation of each proposal at the national level. To this end, several delegations had indicated their willingness to make or develop case studies, examples and scenarios regarding the implementation of the different proposals in their national law. 8. She said that it was evident that the method to structure the discussion around the clusters of issues identified by previous Chairs was well accepted by Members, and that the list of questions posed by Ambassador Clarke had been successful in further focusing the discussion among Members on critical areas of convergence or divergence. 9. It was her own view that, in terms of structuring the future discussions in the Special Session, merit lay in utilizing all the elements that had been developed and already used to ensure that none of the work done hitherto would be lost, that discussions among Members should move forward rather than repeat existing positions, and that the gaps identified between Members could eventually be bridged. 10. In closing, she wished the Chairman much success in his Chairmanship and in steering the Special Session.
TN/IP/W/10/Rev.2; TN/C/W/52; TN/IP/W/8; TN/IP/19
TN/IP/M/25