Geneva,
December 12, 2013
PR/2013/753
WIPO member states concluded today a three-day extraordinary session of the WIPO Assemblies that approved the Organization’s program and budget for the 2014/15 biennium.
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry welcomed the “intensive and constructive engagement” of member states and said: “The program and budget for the next biennium provides a clear roadmap and performance targets that will drive the Organization’s delivery of programs and results approved by member states.”
The Organization’s program and budget is capped at an overall expenditure level of 673.2 million Swiss Francs (SFr), representing a 3.8 % increase over the current biennium. WIPO’s overall income[1] is expected to grow by 4.5 % to 713.3 million SFr for 2014/15.
The approved budget also allocates resources for two new WIPO external offices - one each for China and the Russian Federation.
Open-ended consultations on the guiding principles regarding external offices and on the establishment of further WIPO external offices will continue over the coming months. These will then be submitted for consideration and approval by the September 2014 WIPO Assemblies. With the approval of the two new offices, the number of existing WIPO external offices expands to five (the three others are in: Brazil, Japan and Singapore). Twenty-two countries have expressed the wish to host WIPO external offices.
Further, member states held extensive discussions on a proposal to convene a diplomatic conference – the last leg of negotiations towards an international treaty – to finalize a design law treaty meant to benefit designers seeking design protection by simplifying and harmonizing a number of filing rules that currently vary greatly by country. The General Assembly decided to request the Standing Committee on the Law of Trademarks, Industrial Designs and Geographical Indications (SCT) to finalize its work on the text of the basic proposal for a design law treaty. The extraordinary session of the General Assembly in May 2014 will take stock of progress made and decide on whether to convene a diplomatic conference in 2014 in Moscow. The Russian Federation has offered to host the diplomatic conference.
The General Assembly, which is being chaired by Ambassador Päivi Kairamo - who is also the Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva - was meeting in extraordinary session to finalize unfinished work from the September WIPO Assemblies. For a full report of the session’s work, please see: https://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/details.jsp?meeting_id=31246.