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

Ambassador D. Mwape (Zambia)
B.ii Second sub-question
119. The delegation of New Zealand said that for his delegation the European Union's question of what was the specific meaning of taking information into account was legitimate. Members had now adopted a practical approach to the problem by examining the various systems and practices of Members on how decisions about geographical indications and trademarks were made. He was hopeful that through such an approach they would deepen their understanding of how an obligation to consult the register would actually be implemented in national systems. He had explained in a practical manner how examiners in New Zealand took various sources of information into account. He thought that this practical exchange was much more useful than an abstract debate about the meaning of "presumption", "prima facie evidence" and "proof to the contrary". His delegation looked forward to hearing from many more Members about how their systems dealt in practice with those issues. 120. His delegation considered that the purpose of this process was to obtain a greater understanding of each other's systems in confidence and how information was taken into account in those systems. New Zealand was not at that stage convinced that it was necessary to attempt to codify an international instrument on exactly how a register should be consulted. He understood that the delegation of the European Union felt differently and in its proposal it had prescribed how information should be taken into account. However, as he had previously explained, those prescriptions or commandments would not work in New Zealand, including for reasons of territoriality. For his delegation, the issue was not about taking the register into account, but about being dictated to by the register. However, his delegation did not wish to exclude the possibility of codifying how the register should be taken into account. If Members wished to pursue that, then New Zealand looked forward to a proposal that indeed had the support of all WTO Members. His delegation was convinced that these discussion, which would have to continue with more detail and involve many more Members, might help draw on this helpful discussion of practical experiences in formulating a more suitable description that worked for all.
The Special Session took note of the statements made.
TN/IP/M/26