116. The representative of Hong Kong, China said that his delegation shared the concerns expressed by many developing country Members who were not frequent users of geographical indications that they could be asked to shoulder the costs for setting-up and running the system. To address such concerns, one possible option would be for the Special Session to agree at the outset that the cost of operating the system should be shared between Members on the basis of the number of applications filed by each of them. Therefore, in that respect, the delegation of the United States had already covered Hong Kong, China's thinking. There were other issues that should be considered further, for example whether a limit should be set with regard to the number of applications to be processed each year in order to manage the workload. Hong Kong, China had also given some thought to the estimated costs of operating a system of notification and registration based on formality checking only. In this regard, Hong Kong, China did have some experience of operating a Designs Registry, which was running along similar but slightly more complicated lines. Its initial assessment was that the costs of running such a system should not be excessive. His delegation would share the estimates at a later stage.
