66. The representative of South Africa said that discussion on indigenous knowledge/traditional knowledge should continue in the TRIPS Council as well as in WIPO and that IP/C/W/420 would help to reinvigorate the discussion in the Council. She informed the Council that it had taken South Africa almost five years to try and draw up its own legislation on indigenous knowledge. South Africa had 11 national languages, and even more clans and groups. The discussion on indigenous knowledge needed to continue in all forums and there was also a need to coordinate the different forums. With respect to the distinction between GIs and traditional knowledge made by the European Communities, she said that GIs did cover certain parts of indigenous knowledge while patents covered some other parts. Finally, she strongly supported continuing the discussion in the TRIPS Council based on the non-exclusive checklist contained in IP/C/W/420.
67. Responding to the EC's question on whether disclosure of source was considered as part of outstanding implementation issues, the representative of India said that, from the perspective of his delegation, the issue was definitely one of the outstanding implementation issues under paragraph 12 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration which remained within the purview of the TNC. Focused discussions on this issue in the TRIPS Council under the mandate given by paragraph 19 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration would facilitate further work on outstanding implementation issues in the TNC. He said that there were multiple forums discussing in parallel all the issues under discussion in the WTO, such as the WHO and the FAO. He indicated that the discussions in other organizations could help and enrich the discussions in the Council and Members should not defer the discussions in the Council just because other organizations were discussing similar issues. He urged the Council to organize discussions on these issues in a structured format in the future. He reiterated that the purpose of the checklist was to assist with and expedite the process and not to limit the ambit of discussions. The checklist should be considered open for Members to raise and address any additional elements that were of significant concern to them.
