[DMCA-Activists] IP Watch: WIPO Development Agenda - Developing Countries Submit New Proposals

[Seth Johnson]

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Subject: <incom> IP Watch: WIPO Development Agenda - Developing
CountriesSubmit New Proposals
Date: Mon, 11 Apr 2005 10:16:35 +0200
From: sz <address@hidden>
To: incom <address@hidden>

WIPO Development Agenda: Developing Countries Submit New
Proposals

IP Watch (11 April 2005)
by Carolyn Deere @ 7:15 pm
<http://www.ip-watch.org/weblog/wp-trackback.php/40>

On the eve of high-level meetings next week on development and 
intellectual property, the fourteen co-sponsors of the proposal
for the  World Intellectual Property Organisation’s new
Development Agenda today  submitted detailed elaborations of
their proposals for incorporating  development into WIPO’s work.

The fourteen so-called Friends of Development asked the WIPO
Secretariat  to distribute the proposal to all WIPO Member States
for consideration  at two meetings to be held next week: an April
11-13 Inter-sessional  Intergovernmental Meeting on the
Development Agenda (IIM) and an April  14-15 meeting of the
Permanent Committee on Cooperation for Development  Related to
Intellectual Property (PCIPD) .

In a press release issued today, WIPO highlighted that the
meetings next  week follow the decision adopted by Member States
in the 2004 General  Assembly debate “to convene inter-sessional
intergovernmental meetings  to examine the proposals contained”
in the original Development Agenda  proposal introduced last fall
by Argentina and Brazil (and co-sponsored  by an additional
twelve developing countries), “as well as additional  proposals
of member states.”

Under the rubric of “promoting development and access to
knowledge for  all”, the co-sponsors offered concrete
recommendations on four aspects  of their original Development
Agenda proposal.

First, the co-sponsors argued that reform of WIPO’s governance
structure  is a necessary prerequisite for promoting development
in its work. They  proposed amending the WIPO Convention to make
it more consistent with  WIPO’s mandate as a UN specialised
agency, strengthening the role of  Member States in guiding
WIPO’s work, establishing an independent  Evaluation and Research
Office, and ensuring wider participation by  civil society and
public interest groups in WIPO discussions and activities.

Second, the Friends of Development proposed principles to ensure
that  development objectives are central to all processes and
outcomes of WIPO  norm-setting activities, including greater
Member State involvement in  devising WIPO’s work plan,
comprehensive assessment of the sustainable  development
implications of any proposed new laws; deeper consideration  of
the rights and interests of a broad range of stakeholders with 
respect to intellectual property; and stronger efforts to ensure
that  proposed standards support the objectives and provisions of
other  international instruments (such as the Millennium
Development Goals).

To ensure these guidelines have practical effect, the
co-sponsors  recommended independent, evidence-based “Development
Impact Assessment”  (DIA), the incorporation of provisions to
recognise the difference  between developed and developing WIPO
Member States, and greater public  consultation prior to any
norm-setting discussion in WIPO.

Third, the submission proposed mechanisms to ensure WIPO’s
technical  assistance and capacity building responds to the
development goals of  developing countries. The co-sponsors
argued for the adoption by the  2005 WIPO General Assembly of a
commitment to technical assistance  programmes that are:
development-focused, comprehensive and coherent;  neutral,
unbiased, and non-discriminatory; and tailor-made to respond to 
the expressed and distinct needs of a range of stakeholders. They
argued  that special attention should be paid to the different
levels of  development of various countries and fostering “the
technical capacity  of countries to fully use in-built
flexibilities in international  agreements to advance national
pro-development policies.”

In order to make “good use of the limited resources allocated to 
intellectual property technical assistance in WIPO”, the Friends
of  Development recommended concrete measures to implement and
monitor  adherence to these guidelines, such as measures for
improved  information-sharing, a code of ethics to assure the
independence of  technical assistance providers, the development
of indicators and  benchmarks for evaluation, and greater
transparency about the design and  implementation of technical
assistance programmes. The proposal also  called for analysis of
options for separating WIPO’s technical  assistance function from
its norm-setting function.

Fourth, the submission argued that WIPO should contribute to 
international discussion of what developed countries can do to 
facilitate the transfer and dissemination of technology to
developing  countries and recommended several new initiatives at
the multilateral level.

In their submission, the Friends of Development emphasised their
view  that “the development dimension of intellectual property is
not the same  thing as technical assistance.” They affirmed that
they attach  importance “to the role of intellectual property in
the path towards  development” and stressed their belief that
“WIPO could have a new  role…if it incorporates the development
dimension into its work”.

The proposal also responded to the question of where best to
locate the  Development Agenda discussion in the long-term. The
co-sponsors stated  that the Development Agenda “cannot be
limited to or contained within  the work of any specific
subsidiary body within WIPO” but must be  pursued “in all areas
of WIPO’s activities, including in the work of all  standing
committees and other subsidiary bodies”.

Finally, indicating that more is still to come, the Friends of 
Development noted that their proposal is not exhaustive and they 
“reserve the right to make additional contributions to the debate
as  discussions continue”.

Sisule Musungu of the South Centre, a key developing country 
inter-governmental think-tank, today applauded developing
countries for  their collaborative effort to give practical
effect to the Development  Agenda and to bolster the work of
WIPO. Proactive proposals from  developing countries, he argued,
help WIPO realise its long-stated goal  of making its approach to
IP relevant and supportive of development. In  addition, he said
that the “issues raised in the proposals cover not  only the
concerns of developing countries but also the interests of key 
constituencies (such as consumers) in the North.”

A developing country official highlighted that the new submission
should  put to rest claims by some developed countries that they
“do not  understand” the original Development Agenda proposal.
The Development  Agenda discussion, he said, brings WIPO
up-to-date with other  international organizations—from the World
Bank to the WTO—which have  undertaken similarly useful processes
of introspection to ensure their  actions achieve
development-oriented results.

The WIPO Secretariat noted today that it had also received
submissions  from Mexico (on Intellectual Property and
Development) and the United  States of America (on the
Establishment of a Partnership Program in  WIPO) related to next
week’s discussions.

Sources in Geneva predict strong reactions and a lively debate
among the  Secretariat, WIPO Member States, and other
stakeholders on these  proposals in the coming days.

The Friends of Development Group comprises the co-sponsors of
the  original proposal to establish a WIPO “Development Agenda”
(Argentina,  Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador,
Egypt, Iran, Kenya,  Peru, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania
and Venezuela).

The WIPO Secretariat also drew attention today to an
International  Seminar on Intellectual Property and Development
to be held on May 2 and  3, 2005 (co-organized by WIPO with the
United Nations Conference on  Trade and Development (UNCTAD),
World Health Organization (WHO), United  Nations Industrial
Development Organization (UNIDO) and World Trade  Organization
(WTO)). According to the Secretariat, this event is open to  all
interested parties, including the press.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. All of
the news  articles and features on Intellectual Property Watch
are also subject to  a Creative Commons License which makes them
available for widescale,  free, non-commercial reproduction and
translation.
Carolyn Deere, the author of this post, may be reached at 
address@hidden
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