New Body on Development and IP Wraps up Inaugural Meeting

The Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP), established by the General Assembly of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in October 2007, held its first meeting from March 3 to 7, 2008 and moved forward in discussing the implementation of the WIPO Development Agenda (summary by the Chair below). The meeting, which was attended by 100 member states, 7 inter-governmental organizations and 30 non-governmental organizations, adopted the rules of procedure of the CDIP and held detailed discussions on developing a work program for implementation of the recommendations approved by the General Assembly.

 

Member states established the CDIP in 2007 to, inter alia, develop a work-program for implementation of recommendations adopted in relation to the WIPO Development Agenda. The CDIP is also mandated to monitor, assess, discuss and report on the implementation of all recommendations adopted, by coordinating with relevant WIPO bodies and to discuss IP and development-related issues as agreed by the Committee and decided by the General Assembly. The Committee is made up of member states, and is open to all accredited intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The CDIP elected Ambassador C. Trevor Clarke, Permanent Representative of Barbados, as Chair, and Mr. Muratbek Azymbakiev, Deputy Permanent Representative of Kyrgyzstan, and Mr. Javier Alfonso Moreno Ramos, Director of the Department of Legal Coordination and International Relations of the Spanish Patents and Trademarks Office, as Vice-Chairs.

 

With a view to advancing its work, the CDIP agreed to a methodology, according to which the adopted recommendations would be addressed one by one. The 45 recommendations adopted by the General Assembly in 2007 are divided into six clusters, namely: Cluster A: Technical Assistance and Capacity Building; Cluster B: Norm-setting, Flexibilities, Public Policy and Public Domain; Cluster C: Technology Transfer, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Access to Knowledge; Cluster D: Assessments, Evaluation and Impact Studies; Cluster E: Institutional Matters Including Mandate and Governance; and Cluster F: Others.  These include 19 recommendations for immediate implementation by WIPO and 26 for which the CDIP is required to develop a work program.

 

At its first session, the CDIP discussed adopted recommendations 2, 5, 8, 9 and 10 in the list of 26 and agreed that the proposed activities, as suitably modified following discussions, would be sent to the secretariat to assess the human and financial resource requirements, before the next session. In addition, the CDIP reviewed and commented on activities being implemented under adopted recommendation 1 in the list of 19, suggested changes and considered new activities. It was agreed that the secretariat would make the necessary modification and furnish a progress report on the adopted recommendations in the list of 19 for the next session of the Committee.  For details on each recommendation please see https://www.wipo.int/ip-development/en/agenda/cdip_recommendations.html.

 

The draft report of the CDIP’s first meeting will available on WIPO’s website for comments by member states, IGOs and NGOs. The revised draft report will then be considered for adoption at the beginning of the second session of the CDIP scheduled for July 2008.

 

A proposal for a development agenda for WIPO was first launched at the 2004 WIPO General Assembly. At that time, member states agreed to hold a series of inter-sessional intergovernmental meetings (IIMs) to examine proposals originally submitted by Brazil and Argentina as well as additional proposals of other member states. Accordingly, three sessions of the IIM on a Development Agenda for WIPO were organized in 2005 in which eight papers containing wide-ranging proposals were presented.  As part of that decision, WIPO also hosted an international seminar on intellectual property and development, which was open to all stakeholders, including NGOs, civil society and academia, in May 2005. In order to accelerate and complete discussions on proposals submitted, the 2005 session of the WIPO General Assembly, agreed to establish a Provisional Committee on Proposals for a WIPO Development Agenda (PCDA). The PCDA process culminated in agreement on a set of 45 proposals which were adopted by the WIPO General Assembly in 2007 which further recommended the establishment of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP).

Annex

 

COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (CDIP)

 

First Session

 

Geneva, March 3 to 7, 2008

 

 

1.         The WIPO General Assembly, in its session held in September‑October 2007, reviewed the discussions during the two sessions of the Provisional Committee on Proposals Related to a WIPO Development Agenda (PCDA) in February and June 2007, and expressed satisfaction at the consensus reached on the proposals submitted by Member States on the establishment of a Development Agenda for WIPO. The General Assembly decided to adopt the recommendations for action on the 45 agreed proposals, and to immediately implement the 19 proposals identified by the Chair of the PCDA, in consultation with Member States and the Secretariat. The General Assembly also decided to establish a Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) to:

 

(a)                     develop a work-program for implementation of the adopted recommendations;

 

(b)                    monitor, assess, discuss and report on the implementation of all recommendations adopted, and for that purpose it shall coordinate with relevant WIPO bodies; and

 

(c)                     discuss intellectual property and development related issues as agreed by the Committee, as well as those decided by the General Assembly.

 

2.         For the first meeting of the Committee, it was agreed that the Chair of the PCDA would prepare initial working documents, including a draft work program, in consultation with Member States and the Secretariat.

 

3.         The First Session of the CDIP was held from March 3 to 7, 2008. 100 Member States, 7 inter-governmental organizations and 30 non-governmental organizations participated in the session.

 

4.         The CDIP unanimously elected Ambassador C. Trevor Clarke, Permanent Representative of Barbados, as Chair, and Mr. Muratbek Azymbakiev, Deputy Permanent Representative of Kyrgyzstan, and Mr. Javier Alfonso Moreno Ramos, Director of the Department of Legal Coordination and International Relations of the Spanish Patents and Trademarks Office, as Vice-Chairs.

 

5.         The CDIP adopted the draft agenda as proposed in document CDIP/1/1 Prov.

 

6.         The CDIP adopted the Rules of Procedure included in document CDIP/1/2, approved the representation in sessions of the Committee of the organizations referred to in paragraph 6 of the document as ad hoc observers, and noted the working arrangements for the Committee.

 

7.         The CDIP discussed the initial working document prepared by the Chair of the PCDA, in consultation with Member States and the Secretariat, and decided to use it as a working document of the CDIP (CDIP/1/3). The CDIP also considered the documents submitted by the Central European and Baltic States, the “Group of Friends of Development” and the Republic of Korea. The delegations agreed to a methodology according to which adopted recommendations would be addressed one by one, starting with those contained in the list of 26 recommendations. After discussing all those recommendations in Cluster A, the Committee would shift its attention to Cluster A in the list of 19 recommendations for immediate implementation, prior to returning to the list of 26 recommendations to discuss Cluster B recommendations. This methodology would continue for the recommendations under the remaining clusters. 

 

8.         The Secretariat would introduce each adopted recommendation, highlighting the main points in the list of activities included in the working document. Subsequently, Member States, who had made written suggestions to the Chair of the PCDA, would be given the opportunity to intervene to elaborate on their submissions, after which there would be a general discussion on each adopted recommendation during which Member States may: (a) provide focused comments on the list of activities; (b) suggest modifications, where necessary; (c) consider new activities; and (d) identify points, where necessary, to seek further information from the Secretariat. The Secretariat would then provide responses to any questions or requests for clarification made by Member States. The Chair of the CDIP would summarize the discussions on each recommendation. For the list of 19 recommendations for immediate implementation, the CDIP would request the Secretariat to furnish a progress report, in line with any suggested changes and/or new activities, for the July session of the Committee. For the list of 26 recommendations, the CDIP would broadly agree that the proposed activities, as suitably modified following the discussions, would be forwarded to the Secretariat to assess the human and financial resource requirements, before the July session.  

 

9.         In accordance with the above-mentioned methodology, the delegations expressed their views on the working document. It was agreed that the interventions made by Member States, while considering Agenda Item 5 (“Consideration of Work Program for Implementation of Adopted Proposals”) and Agenda Item 6 (“Future Work”), would not be included in the report, unless otherwise requested by them while making the intervention.   

 

10.       The CDIP discussed adopted recommendations 2, 5, 8, 9 and 10 in the list of 26 and agreed that the proposed activities, as suitably modified following discussions, would be sent to the Secretariat to assess the human and financial resource requirements, before the July 2008 session. In addition, the CDIP reviewed and commented on activities being implemented under adopted recommendation 1 in the list of 19, suggested changes and considered new activities. It was agreed that the Secretariat would make the necessary modification and furnish a progress report on the adopted recommendations in the list of 19 for the July 2008 session of the Committee. 

 

11.       After discussions, it was decided that there was a need to continue consideration of the work program for implementation of the adopted recommendations. In order to facilitate this task, it was decided that the Chair would organize informal consultations between the first and second sessions. The consultations would cover the adopted recommendations, with particular attention being paid to those recommendations with additional financial and human resource requirements to enable the Secretariat to make the necessary assessments.

 

12.       The CDIP noted that the Draft Report of the First Session will be prepared by the Secretariat and communicated to the Permanent Missions of the Member States, and will also be made available to Member States, IGOs and NGOs, in electronic form, on the WIPO website. Comments on the Draft Report should be communicated in writing to the Secretariat within three weeks of its issue. The revised Draft Report would then be considered for adoption at the beginning of the Second Session of the CDIP.

 

 

 

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