ICTSD - The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development

Hong Kong Trade and Development Symposium

Session 3.1

Disclosure of Origin - a Deal Maker in the Doha Round?

14 December 2005, 16:45-19:00, Room 401

Synopsis | Agenda | Speaker Bios | Organisers | Documents

Synopsis

Paragraph 19 of the Doha Declaration instructs the TRIPS Council - in addition to its review of TRIPS Articles 27.3(b) and 71.1 - to consider the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the protection of traditional knowledge (TK) and folklore. One of the main sticking points to be discussed by the TRIPS Council are the submissions by a large number of developing countries, including Brazil, Bolivia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Thailand, Peru, Venezuela, as well as the African Group, for a requirement for the disclosure of the source and/or country of origin of biological materials and associated TK as part of the international patent system. The requirement is intended to reduce the possibility of such resources and TK being improperly awarded patents without adequate consent and benefit sharing arrangements in place.

Since 2004 Members have remained relatively locked in their positions with little progress. Many developing countries argue that only an international solution can effectively prevent the misappropriation of genetic resources and associated TK, whereas some developed countries such as the US and Australia argue that this would cause unnecessary additional burdens to the patent system. Many developing country delegations are determined to make progress in these sessions and are likely to make a more concerted push for a trade-off in the Hong Kong Ministerial to find an appropriate and overdue response to this issue.

The objective of the session is to advocate the need for a solution on how to move the debate on disclosure of origin forward in the TRIPS Council, and identify whether it could serve as a potential deal maker in the current round of negotiations. The need to find an international technical solution and incorporate it into the TRIPS Agreement is still outstanding. Some practical suggestions have already been put forward on different occasions in the TRIPS Council by those developing countries that aim to make this issue part of the single undertaking. The US, on the other hand, has put forward a national contract based approach between the provider and the user of the genetic material and/or knowledge. Some other developed countries, such as the EU, Norway and Switzerland, have shown a degree of willingness to address these issues either in the WTO or in the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Switzerland).

So far, however, the technical debate remains blocked for primarily political reasons. This session will draw from selected national experiences, such as Peru, on how to implement disclosure of origin, and explore possible options for a solution on the international level, bearing in mind the political considerations that would have to be taken into account.

Synopsis | Agenda | Speakers Bios | Organisers | Documents

Agenda

Moderator:
Ricardo Meléndez-Ortiz, Executive Director, ICTSD

Opening Comments

Speakers:
Frederick Abbott, Edward Ball Eminent Scholar Professor of International Law Florida State University
Laurence Tubiana, Director, IDDRI
Alejandro Neyra*, Second Secretary, Permanent Mission of Peru to the WTO
Susan K. Finston, Executive Director of the American BioIndustry Alliance (ABIA)

Discussants:
Carlos Correa, Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Industrial Property Law and Economics, University of Buenos Aires

Closing Discussion

*TBC

Synopsis | Agenda | Speakers Bios | Organisers | Documents

Speakers Bios

Frederick ABBOTT is Edward Ball Eminent Scholar Professor of International Law at the Florida State University College of Law. He is Rapporteur for the Committee on International Trade Law of the International Law Association, on the Panel of Experts of UNCTAD's Program on the Settlement of Disputes in International Trade, Investment and Intellectual Property, consultant to the UNCTAD Project on TRIPS and Development, to the World Bank Institute and to the Quaker United Nations Office (Geneva). He has served as consultant to the WHO Department of Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy. Professor Abbott is the author of numerous books and articles in the fields of international economic law, international intellectual property rights law, and public international law. Professor Abbott regularly teaches on the faculties of the World Trade Institute in Berne and the Central European University - World Law Institute in Budapest. Professor Abbott holds BA and LLM degrees from UC Berkeley and a JD from Yale Law School.

Carlos CORREA is the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of Industrial Property Law and Economics, University of Buenos Aires. He is currently in charge of the project on Intellectual Property and Innovation at the South Centre. He is a consultant to various agencies of the United Nations, the Latin American Economic System (SELA), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other regional and international organizations. Professor Correa also served as an Undersecretary of State and Development for Informatics of Argentina (1984-1989), and was a government delegate for Argentina in the negotiations of the Washington Treaty and of the TRIPs Agreement during the Uruguay Round. He is the author of numerous books and articles on technology and intellectual property.

Ricardo MELÉNDEZ-ORTIZ is co-founder and first Executive Director of the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, since 1996. Previously he has in turns been involved in strategic stakeholder positions of the international negotiations system: as Director co-founder and General Director, Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano (1994-1996, Quito, Ecuador); as a delegate and principal negotiator for Colombia for the Uruguay Round, the UNCED negotiations and other bilateral and plurilateral processes; as spokesman for G-77, non-alligned countries and regional groupings (1988-1994); and as a consultant for an International Organisation, UNDTCP. He has also served in his country's government as Principal Advisor to the Colombian Minister of Economic Development and on several boards and policy committees of Colombia (1987-1988 Bogota). He undertook graduate studies in Administration and Management, at Harvard University; undergraduate studies in Economics and Political Science at Los Andes University, Bogota-Colombia; and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences from Harvard University.

Alejandro NEYRA is a diplomat and writer specialised in International Relations, Diplomacy and Latin-American Literature. He graduated in Law by the Catolica University in Lima and in Literature by the National University of San Marcos. He undertook post-graduate studies in the Diplomatic Academy of Peru. Before coming to Geneva he worked as Third Secretary in the Economic Promotion Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the Cabinet of the Peruvian Presidency's Secretariat. He is currently Second Secretary in the Permanent Mission of Peru to the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, in charge of Intellectual Property, Services and Trade Facilitation.

Laurence TUBIANA is director of the Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) and is responsible for the Institute of Political Science's Durable Development Program in Paris. She is currently Member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) and Member of the Scientific Board of the Centre d'études et prospectives d'informations internationales (CEPII). Laurence Tubiana is general inspector of Agriculture and associated professor at the National Superior Agronomical School of Montpellier and at the University of Montpellier. Dr. Tubiana served as environmental consultant to former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and was responsible for the Mission for Sustainable Development where she led French delegations through several negotiations of environmental agreements. She was a member of the Council of Economic Analysis and served as director of research and director of the International Economy Laboratory at the National Institute of Agronomical Research. Dr. Tubiana has represented French NGOs on the international level and served as consultant for various international organizations, including the European Commission, The World Bank, and the United Nations Conference on Commerce. She was also a member of the scientific council of the Institute for Research and Development. Dr. Tubiana holds a diploma from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Paris I.

Susan K. Finston is Executive Director of the American BioIndustry Alliance (ABIA), a new advocacy organization that seeks enabling conditions for biotechnology through sustainable, mutually beneficial Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) policies. Previously, she worked for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), where she was Associate Vice President for Intellectual Property, Middle East/Africa and South Asian Affairs. Prior to joining PhRMA in 1999, Finston served in the U.S. Foreign Service, specializing in intellectual property and international trade policy. She received two meritorious Honor Awards for work on bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations. From 1986 -1988, Finston served as a Motions Clerk working with active judges at the Federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago, Illinois. She was admitted to practice before the Illinois Bar, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 1986 with a joint J.D./M.P.P. degree and with a B.S. in Philosophy in 1982. Her recent article, “The Relevance of Genetic Resources to the Pharmaceutical Industry—The Industry Viewpoint,” appeared in the March 2005 Journal of World Intellectual Property.

Synopsis | Agenda | Speakers Bios | Organisers | Documents

Organisers

	ICTSD: The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD) was established in Geneva in September 1996 to contribute to a better understanding of development and environment concerns in the context of international trade. As an independent non-profit and non-governmental organisation, ICTSD engages a broad range of actors in ongoing dialogue about trade and sustainable development. With a wide network of governmental, non-governmental and inter-governmental partners, ICTSD plays a unique systemic role as a provider of original, non-partisan reporting and facilitation services at the intersection of international trade and sustainable development.
	QUNO: The Quaker United Nations Office, located in Geneva and New York, represents Quakers through Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC). Since the founding of the United Nations in 1945, Quakers have shared that organisation's aims and supported its efforts to abolish war and promote peaceful resolution of conflicts, human rights, economic justice and good governance.
	QIAP: The Quaker International Affairs Programme (QIAP) works to support the peace and justice concerns of Canadian Quakers in the international arena. Its first area of focus is on trade and intellectual property issues. QIAP was established in Ottawa in November 2001. QIAP is a programme under the Canadian Friends Service Committee which is the service arm of Canadian Yearly Meeting (the corporate body of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, in Canada). QIAP's work priorities are based on the concerns of Canadian Quakers and determined, in part, by the agendas of the organizations and participants with which QIAP works.
	IDDRI: Institute of Sustainable Development and International Relations was formed in 2001 to facilitate the process of international negotiations in the field of sustainable development by identifying the core issues of the future negotiation agenda, and by supporting activities designed to strengthen the dialogue between the scientific community, the private sector, the NGOs and the governments at national and international level. These dialogues are conceived as a key instrument to better anticipate the emergence of new issues in the negotiation process, support and coordinate research activities through the establishment of international networks of scientific expertise, maximize the scientific input in the setting of government positions, namely by addressing better the key issues at stake, build a common background at international level, facilitating the understanding of each other proposals and positions in the negotiations.
	IUCN: Founded in 1948, The World Conservation Union brings together States, government agencies and a diverse range of non-governmental organisations in a unique world partnership: over 1000 members in all, spread across some 140 countries. As a Union, IUCN seeks to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable. The World Conservation Union builds on the strengths of its members, networks and partners to enhance their capacity and to support global alliances to safeguard natural resources at local, regional and global levels.
	CIEL: The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) is a nonprofit organization working to use international law and institutions to protect the environment, promote human health, and ensure a just and sustainable society. We provide a wide range of services including legal counsel, policy research, analysis, advocacy, education, training, and capacity building. In particular, CIEL's Trade and Sustainable Program seeks to reform the global framework of economic law, policy and institutions in order to create a more balanced global economy that is environmentally sustainable and beneficial to all people in a more equitable way.