UNEVENTFUL TRIPS COUNCIL REVISITS BIODIVERSITY ISSUES

Little new emerged from discussions on biodiversity at the 17-18 November meeting of the WTO Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), with countries largely reiterating previous proposals. One trade source noted a general lack of enthusiasm in the Council's discussions compared to the excitement of last year's negotiations on TRIPs and public health.

No progress on biodiversity

During the debate on issues related to Article 27.3(b) (patentability of life forms), traditional knowledge and biodiversity, various Members recalled their previous proposals, including Switzerland, the African Group and a group of developing countries led by India (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 13 June 2003). Norway, the EC and Thailand supported the Swiss proposal to amend the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)'s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that would enable countries to require patent applicants to declare the source of the genetic resources and traditional knowledge in patent applications. The EC added that it was also willing to discuss other proposals for disclosure of origin, including inserting text in the TRIPs Agreement. The US, Japan, Canada and Australia opposed any discussion on this issue in the TRIPs Council, saying that it should be dealt with in WIPO's Intergovernmental Committee (ICG) on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore. The US said it would prefer to not change the patent system, but rather address disclosure and benefit-sharing through permits, contractual obligations and civil and/or criminal penalties.

Disclosure requirements were also discussed at the WIPO Working Group on the reform of the PCT at its 17-21 November meeting. Similar to the TRIPs Council, the US-led group of countries said that these issues should be discussed at the ICG instead. One trade source pointed out that the discussions in the two meetings highlighted the strategy of the US and others to use the ICG to undermine developing countries' demand for amending the TRIPs Agreement (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 3 October 2003). The source added that it was a "telling detail" that only developed countries had referred to the ICG in the TRIPs Council meeting, while no developing countries had mentioned it.

GI discussions on hold

Members did not discuss geographical indications (GI, i.e. identifications of the country or region where the quality, reputation or other characteristic of a product is essentially attributable to the geographical region). This issue had been moved to the level of the Trade Negotiations Committee in December 2002 as part of the other 'implementation' issues (see BRIDGES Weekly, 21 May 2003). Negotiations on the multilateral register for GIs have been temporarily suspended along with all other negotiating sessions.

In related developments, the European Commission in a paper on the post-Cancun process adopted on 26 November proposed that the EC take a more flexible approach to the multilateral register for GIs (see related In Brief, this issue). Such flexibility could include a carefully defined start-up phase of appropriate length, particularly for developing countries. The Commission also noted that the EU needed to rapidly finalise the list of 41 foods and beverages transmitted prior to Cancun, taking into account any additions due to enlargement. The Commission added that progress in the discussions on the list in the context of agriculture negotiations should not be linked to progress on the multilateral register and GI extensions (i.e. extending the additional protection already provided for wines and spirits to other products).

The TRIPs Council sessions for next year have been tentatively scheduled for 8-10 March, 21-23 September and 30 November - 2 December.

For an account of the health-related discussions at the TRIPs Council meeting, see BRIDGES Weekly, 27 November 2003.