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

Ambassador D. Mwape (Zambia)
1 NEGOTIATION ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A MULTILATERAL SYSTEM OF NOTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS FOR WINES AND SPIRITS
1.94. The representative of India said that, whilst he was aware of the Chair's reminder of the precise mandate of the Special Session and the dislike manifested by other Members with regard to the issue of GI extension, he wished to reiterate his delegation's view that negotiations on the GI register confined to only wines and spirits would be incomplete and create further discrimination between product categories. He agreed with comments made by the delegation of the United States that GIs should not be treated differently. Other IPRs did not differentiate between product categories, so why should GIs? It should be borne in mind that most of the GIs of interest to developing countries were not for wines and spirits, but for other products. India had 149 registered GIs, which were mostly for handloom textiles, handicrafts and agricultural products. 1.95. India, along with Brazil, China, the LDC Group and the African Group, had proposed texts on S&D, reflected in the composite text of 28 February. It was in keeping with the Doha mandate of paragraph 44 that S&D provisions would be an integral part of WTO Agreements. The proposed S&D provisions included specific transition periods for developing countries and LDCs, provisions on exemption from registration fees, technical assistance from the WTO Secretariat and from developed country Members in accordance with Article 67. 1.96. On the Chair's observation that the composite text was "work in progress", he said he was doubtful about progress. In light of the statements made by other delegations, he saw the challenge for the Chair to come up with a text by Easter.
The Special Session took note of the statements made.
TN/IP/M/28