Members of the World Intellectual Property Organisation on 28 September adopted a 'development agenda', approving a set of reform proposals aimed at placing development concerns at the heart of the institution's work.

Advocates of the agenda say that it has the potential to promote technology transfer and narrow the digital divide, and could help equip developing country governments to pursue intellectual property policies that better respond to their innovation, access, and industrial development priorities.

At a press conference following the affirmation by WIPO's annual summit, Guilherme Patriota, a minister counselor at the Brazilian mission, said that the development agenda was "breathing new oxygen into" reforms at WIPO. Argentinean Ambassador Alberto Dumont called it an "important day in the life of the organisation," saying that the 15-member bloc of developing countries that strongly backed the development agenda was "very pleased with the result." He cautioned, however, that the decision itself was "certainly not the end of the road," since much would hinge on how the agenda is implemented.

Indeed, one potential cloud on the horizon for the development agenda is that WIPO members have not yet managed to agree on specific budgetary resources for its implementation.

New Committee on Development and IP

The General Assembly approved the establishment of a Committee on Development and Intellectual Property, and tasked it with implementing 45 recommendations for development-oriented reforms that had garnered consensus during the negotiations leading up to the agenda's adoption. The new committee replaces the Provisional Committee on Proposals Related to a WIPO Development Agenda (PCDA), in which those talks took place until members reached an agreement on the development agenda in June (see BRIDGES Weekly, 20 June 2007).

Broadly speaking, the 45 proposals call for WIPO, long perceived as biased and driven by the industrialised world's interests, to become more responsive to the concerns of the developing countries that make up the vast majority of its 184 member governments. They advocate making intellectual property protection strike a balance among the interests of all stakeholders - those who use protected medicines or software, rather than simply those who hold patents and copyrights.

The recommendations address controversial subjects such as ensuring that WIPO norm-setting reflects countries' different developmental levels, and broadening the institution's focus on issues including public domain, competition, and access to knowledge. WIPO technical assistance, accused of being unduly guided by the Secretariat and developed countries, is slated to be revamped to respond to recipients' concerns. Notably, the proposals specifically urge WIPO to promote the use of various flexibilities that exist in international agreements such as WTO rules. These flexibilities, which legally justify deviations from standard intellectual property protections to promote public health or combat anti-competitive practices, often go under-used.

The Committee on Development and Intellectual Property will meet for two five-day sessions over the next year, during which it is supposed to develop a work program for the 45 recommendations, as well as monitoring and discussing their implementation by other WIPO bodies. Members are set to first tackle a set of 19 of the 45 proposals that demand little in the way of additional human or financial resources.

The development agenda is the product of three years of negotiations, initiated in 2004 when Argentina and Brazil called for a 'development agenda' for WIPO, arguing that the institution needed to focus more on the needs of developing countries, and to view intellectual property as one of many tools for development rather than an end in itself. They have been joined by 13 other countries - Bolivia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Iran, Kenya, Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uruguay, and Venezuela - to form a group dubbed the 'Friends of Development' (see BRIDGES Weekly, 6 October 2004).

Several civil society groups and academics also helped lay the intellectual foundations of the development agenda over the past five years, arguing for a revision of international intellectual property policymaking to make it an integral part of policies on science, technology, culture, and innovation. They worked with government negotiators throughout the process.

At last week's press conference at WIPO headquarters, Argentinean Ambassador Dumont recognised that implementation would take time and a substantial measure of political will." He emphasised that discussions of development must not be restricted to the newly established committee, adding that the agenda would impact work not only at WIPO but also at other institutions such as the World Health Organisation. Delegates from many developing countries have called for all WIPO committees to regularly discuss development issues.

Dalindyebo Shabalala, director of the Centre for International Environmental Law's project on intellectual property and sustainable development, called the enactment of the WIPO development agenda an unprecedented success. He said that the "45 proposals… hold the organization accountable" in a specific manner, something rarely seen in multilateral negotiations.

Row over Idris threatens budget

At time of writing on 3 October, the General Assembly was embroiled in a disagreement over the leadership of WIPO, with industrialised countries such as the US, EU members, and Switzerland implying that Director-General Kamal Idris, a former Sudanese diplomat, was no longer fit to continue at the helm after allegedly lying about his age in the institution's records (see BRIDGES Weekly, 26 September 2007). Developing country delegates, especially from African countries, have sought to downplay the issue, preferring to address it after the assembly. The disagreement was affecting the approval of future spending plans, and a late-night vote on the budget narrowly failed to pass. The turmoil at the organisation, particularly with regard to its budget, has left observers concerned about the implementation of the development agenda.

ICTSD reporting.