TRIPs Council: China Advocates Disclosure Requirement, is Against Making Enforcement A Permanent Agenda Issue

Bridges of ICTSD gives excellent weekly trade news digests about TRIPs etc.

"At the 13 February meeting of the TRIPs Council, the group of developing countries -- Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, India, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Tanzania, Ecuador and South Africa -- that have tabled a draft article on disclosure (that requires patent applications to include disclosure of the origin of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge along with evidence of prior informed consent and benefit sharing. IP Dragon) reiterated their call for an amendment. They said they now were ready to proceed with text-based negotiations."

"A number of developing countries, led by China, expressed opposition to making the enforcement issue a permanent agenda item for the Council. China noted that there is no mandate in either the TRIPs Agreement or the Doha agenda to pursue such work, and that a discussion on the topic would not be helpful in advancing other agenda items currently under negotiation or review."

"China, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, India and South Africa reiterated the importance of Members' freedom to determine the appropriate means of IP enforcement, and the need to consider enforcement issues in conjunction with other TRIPs provisions, such as the non-discrimination obligation and the need to avoid the creation of unnecessary trade barriers. In addition, they cautioned against duplication of work already carried out by the World Customs Organisation and WIPO."

Read ICTSD's article here.