Communication from Albania,
Brazil, China, Colombia, Ecuador, the European
Communities, Iceland, India, Indonesia, the Kyrgyz
Republic, Liechtenstein, the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Pakistan, Peru, Sri Lanka,
Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey,
the ACP Group and the African Group
The following communication,
dated 18 July 2008, is being circulated at the
request of the Delegations of Brazil, the European
Communities, India and Switzerland.
_______________
Proponents of the TRIPS related
issues under the Doha Work Programme (GI Register,
TRIPS disclosure requirement and GI Extension) agree
to include these issues as part of the horizontal
process in order to have modality texts that reflect
Ministerial agreement on the key parameters for
negotiating final draft legal texts with respect to
each of these issues as part of the single
undertaking. The central objective of the proponents
remains the adoption of a procedural decision that
would open up the way for negotiations on the three
issues.
We therefore submit draft
modalities for consideration by Ministers for TRIPS
related issues.
1. Members agree to establish a
register open to geographical indications for wines
and spirits protected by any of the WTO Members as
per TRIPS. Following receipt of a notification of a
geographical indication, the WTO Secretariat shall
register the notified geographical indication on the
register. The elements of the notification will be
agreed.
2. Each WTO Member shall provide
that domestic authorities will consult the Register
and take its information into account when making
decisions regarding registration and protection of
trademarks and geographical indications in
accordance with its domestic procedures. In the
framework of these procedures, and in the absence of
proof to the contrary in the course of these, the
Register shall be considered as a prima facie evidence
that, in that Member, the registered geographical
indication meets the definition of
"geographical indication" laid down in
TRIPS Article 22.1. In the framework of these
procedures, domestic authorities shall consider
assertions on the genericness exception laid down in
TRIPS Article 24.6 only if these are substantiated.
3. Text based negotiations shall
be intensified, in Special Sessions of the TRIPS
Council and as an integral part of the Single
Undertaking, to amend the TRIPS Agreement in order
to establish the Register accordingly.
TRIPS/CBD disclosure: draft Modality text
4. Members agree to amend the
TRIPS Agreement to include a mandatory requirement
for the disclosure of the country providing/source
of genetic resources, and/or associated traditional
knowledge for which a definition will be agreed, in
patent applications. Patent applications will not be
processed without completion of the disclosure
requirement.
5. Members agree to define the
nature and extent of a reference to Prior Informed
Consent and Access and Benefit Sharing.
6. Text based negotiations shall
be undertaken, in Special Sessions of the TRIPS
Council, and as an integral part of the Single
Undertaking, to implement the above. Additional
elements contained in members' proposals, such as
PIC and ABS as an integral part of the disclosure
requirement and post grant sanctions, may also be
raised and shall be considered in these
negotiations.
GI-Extension: draft Modality text
7. Members agree to the extension
of the protection of Article 23 of the TRIPS
Agreement to geographical indications for all
products, including the extension of the Register.
8. Text based negotiations shall
be undertaken, in Special Sessions of the TRIPS
Council and as an integral part of the Single
Undertaking, to amend the TRIPS Agreement in order
to extend the protection of Article 23 of the TRIPS
Agreement to geographical indications for all
products as well as to apply to these the exceptions
provided in Article 24 of the TRIPS Agreement mutatis
mutandis.
Trade
