PANAMA APPROVES FTA WITH US

Panamanian legislators voted overwhelmingly on 11 July to approve a free trade agreement with the US, taking a step toward the entry into force of a pact that was signed by leaders of the two countries in late June (see BRIDGES Weekly, 4 July 2007).

The agreement, which would slash tariffs and other trade barriers between the two countries, was passed by a vote of 58 to 3 (with one abstention) in Panama's National Assembly. The deal now awaits legislative approval in the US, with a vote expected in the fall.

Some analysts predict that the US Congress will also approve the deal, given that it was re-negotiated at the last minute to incorporate provisions related to the environment, labour, and access to medicine, as per the terms of a May compromise on trade policy between senior Democratic lawmakers and the Bush administration (see BRIDGES Weekly, 16 May 2007).

But although three top Democratic lawmakers spoke favourably about the accord with Panama, they said on 29 June that they would wait to vote on it until a congressional delegation could travel to Panama City to confirm that the government had in fact changed environmental and labour laws in accordance with the recent modifications. For his part, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos has said that his country will have no trouble complying with the new rules.

US Trade Representative Susan Schwab reacted strongly to the Democrats' statement, writing in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that "unilaterally requiring another sovereign country to change their domestic laws before the US Congress approves a trade agreement would be a fundamental break with US law, policy, and practice."

Under the terms of the agreement, Panama will immediately remove tariffs on nearly 90 percent of US exports of consumer and industrial products; remaining import duties will be gradually eliminated over the next 10 years. The pact also allows Panamanian farmers greater access to the long-protected US sugar market.

Nearly half of Panamanian imports come from the US; trade between the two nations totalled $3.1 billion in 2006.

ICTSD reporting; "Panama lawmakers ratify US free trade deal," REUTERS, 11 July 2007; "Panama Ratifies Free Trade Deal with US," ASSOCIATED PRESS, 12 July 2007; "Panama: National Assembly passes trade accord," WW4 REPORT, 16 July 2007.

WIPO COMMITTEE ON GENETIC RESOURCES, TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE EXTENDED ONCE MORE

A World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) committee agreed last week to simply continue discussions, after failing to make any progress on how to protect traditional knowledge, genetic resources and folklore from misappropriation.

The eleventh session of the WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) met from 3-12 July in Geneva.

Since its first meeting in 2001, the IGC has been characterised by a North-South divide, with the latter calling for new binding legal instruments to deal with misappropriation (see BRIDGES Trade BioRes, 4 April 2007).

With negotiations on potential treaties stalled, the recent session - supposed to be the committee's last - focused primarily on the IGC's "future work." The week was taken up by informal negotiations and what delegates called "informal informal" meetings between the Africa Group, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan and the US. Several indigenous peoples' groups and other organisations also participated, though some expressed frustration at their lack of access to the negotiations between states (BRIDGES Weekly, 11 July 2007).

Agreement on how to proceed was only reached late during the final plenary session. The IGC will ask WIPO's September General Assembly to renew its mandate once more, with the committee reminded "to accelerate its work and to present a progress report to the [2008] General Assembly." The renewed mandate also maintains that "no outcome of its work is excluded, including the possible development of an international instrument or instruments."

IGC Chair Ambassador Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja (Indonesia) described the decision as a "new direction" to "further explore" issues. However, Peruvian delegate Alejandro Neyra said the renewed mandate was "basically the same" as the previous one. Where developing countries had sought a commitment to "work towards a common position", for instance, developed countries, particularly the US and Canada, were careful to avoid language that might expand the mandate, Neyra said. They ensured the final text calls only for "work towards further convergence of views."

Sources report that the renewal of the committee's mandate was never really in question. In fact, one suggested that developed countries were keener to renew the mandate than some developing nations, as an easy and inconsequential gesture of commitment to deal with the misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge.

The decisions of the IGC are available at http://www.iprsonline.org/resources/docs/igc11_decisions.pdf.

ICTSD Reporting; "WIPO Committee Extends, Adjusts Mandate on Traditional Knowledge, Folklore", INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WATCH, 13 July 2007.