2.2. The representative of Chile, on behalf of the Joint Proposal Group, congratulated the Chair on his election as Chairperson of the Special Session of the Council of TRIPS. He said that the present negotiation had been on-going for a number of years and recalled that in 2005 a group of developing and developed countries had submitted document TN/IP/W/10, entitled "Proposed Draft TRIPS Council Decision on the Establishment of a Multilateral System of Notification and Registration for Geographical Indications for Wines and Spirits". This joint proposal had been submitted to fulfil the mandate of facilitating the protection of GIs for wines and spirits through the establishment of a multilateral system that would be voluntary, simple, transparent, would not have legal effects for non-participating members, would respect the different systems of protection of GIs, would respect the principle of territoriality, would preserve the balance of the Uruguay Round and limit itself to the protection of geographical indications for wines and spirits.
2.3. He said that the Joint Proposal Group had shown considerable flexibility not only in its substantive contributions to the negotiation process – details of which were contained in document TN/IP/W/10/Rev.4 – but also in its willingness to meet in different formats. The group had been able to modify its own proposal to include elements that had not explicitly been part of the original text (for example provisions of Special and Differential Treatment) and had worked hard to restructure the joint proposal to fully include the 6 elements for developing the text which had been proposed by the former Chair, Ambassador Mwape. He also noted that during the negotiating process new delegations had sponsored the joint proposal, and other delegations had expressed support for core elements of the proposal, for instance voluntary participation, as was reflected in the Draft Composite Text (document: JOB/IP/3.Rev1).
2.4. While it was clear that the complexities of the Doha Round affected the work of the Special Session in the previous year, he said that the main obstacle to making further progress was the intention of some Members to modify and broaden the scope of the mandate of this negotiation. The mandate was an essential element in the discussion, as the starting point of what the Special Session was to do and the basis of its negotiation. He emphasized that the mandate of Article 23.4 of the TRIPS Agreement and Paragraph 18 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration was clearly limited to the establishment of a system of notification and registration of GIs for wines and spirits. This had also been the understanding of past Chairs of the Special Session, as had been reflected in various official documents including the report of the previous Special Session Chair to the Trade Negotiation Committee.
2.5. With respect to the Chair's proposal to hold consultations he said that the Joint Proposal Group were willing to meet bilaterally with the Chair and would appreciate the opportunity to express their view about the process and to provide information about the merits of their proposal. However, the Joint Proposal Group was not ready at the current stage to engage in substantive negotiations unless those negotiations were carried out in accordance with the mandate that all Members had agreed on, namely to establish a system for facilitating protection for GIs for wines and spirits.
