110. The representative of El Salvador said that, with respect to special and differential treatment, the joint proposal had the advantage that voluntary participation afforded developing countries the possibility to take decisions in accordance with their national legislation and their administrative capacity for registration. It was important that the established legal system be taken into account. Members had already stated the need to preserve the balance of rights and obligations, and not to impose administrative burdens on Members wishing to participate in keeping with their own system. If the multilateral system was established under the mandate of Article 23.4 of the TRIPS Agreement, there should be no increase in charges and fees for developing countries and least developed countries. Every Member would work, in keeping with the administrative capacities of its intellectual property office, to provide protection to IPR, and any new system should not go against the acquired rights of Members. Against this background, he said that his delegation believed that El Salvador would benefit from special and differential treatment under the joint proposal.
