86. The representative of the United States associated his delegation with the remarks made by the representative of Canada. His delegation believed that the system proposed by some Members would create extraordinary costs and it was not clear how those costs would be borne. His delegation had made a preliminary review of the cost of examination in various WTO Members: they ranged from a few hundred US dollars to over US$ 1,000 for the examination of a mark, whether it was a trademark or a certification mark. As Canada had stated, each of those notified GIs would have to be examined in each WTO Member in order for it to be able to lodge an objection in a timely manner. There were doubts expressed about whether that was feasible in all Members, given their administrative infrastructures and other factors. A rough estimate of the cost of examination of a single GI in all WTO Members would approach some US$ 50,000, so the system proposed by the EC entailed significant costs. Aside from the costs to the Secretariat for operating the system, the examination and translation costs in Members were the significant costs that would be entailed in the consultation mechanism proposed by the EC. Such costs would not be borne by the applicant but would be directly imposed on governments. Given the significant workload in the WTO, his delegation wondered whether that was a workable proposal.
