WIPO's Policy Advisory Commission to Meet for thr First Time in Geneva
Geneva, October 27, 1998
Press Releases PR/1998/144
The Commission
The newly established Policy Advisory Commission of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will hold its inaugural meeting at WIPO headquarters in Geneva on November 4 and 5, 1998.
Membership
The Commission will be composed of a number of eminent men and women from the world of politics, diplomacy, law and public administration. Among the list of notable personalities who have expressed a keen personal interest in the work of this Commission are, their Excellencies Mr. Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa and Mr. Martti Ahtisaari, President of Finland, as well as HRH Crown Prince Hassan of Jordan. The membership of the Commission will include several other senior members of government, namely Mr. Amara Essy, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Côte d'Ivoire, Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sri Lanka, Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Minister for Legal Affairs, Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Jian Song, Vice-Chairman of the People's Political Consultative Conference of China and Mr. Hisamistsu Arai, Vice-Minister for International Affairs, Japan. It should be noted that members of the Commission will participate in their personal capacities. (A provisional list of participants is attached.)
The Role of the Policy Advisory Commission (PAC)
The Policy Advisory Commission will serve to identify emerging trends affecting the creation, use and protection of intellectual property in the 21st Century. The Commission's mandate is to provide independent, expert advice on emerging issues that have a bearing on WIPO's operations and its policy environment. In the spirit of a "think tank", the agenda of the Commission will be open and flexible. This will give members the scope to approach and explore new possibilities within the field of intellectual property with imagination and originality.
The Rising Importance of Intellectual Property
In recent years, intellectual property issues have moved to the foreground of policy-making consideration for a number of reasons. First, the protection of intellectual property stimulates industrial and artistic creativity and is central to the transformation of that creativity into material and cultural wealth. Second, information, knowledge and creativity are acknowledged as keys to technological progress and to economic, social and cultural development. As such they are a potent source of wealth, aesthetic enjoyment and cultural enrichment. Third, information, knowledge and creativity are inexhaustible and when protected as intellectual property (after meeting strict legally-defined criteria), they become a non-finite resource. Fourth, knowledge and creativity are relatively independent of level of economic development, thus any country or society is able to generate this valuable resource. Fifth, modern information technology has helped to spread the further development and use of intellectual property for the benefit of all.
Why the Policy Advisory Commission (PAC) is important:
The 20th Century has witnessed extraordinary growth in the advance and improvement of technology and the popular enjoyment of the creative arts. The international intellectual property system, which has evolved in tandem with the changing global environment, has been instrumental in generating this growth. The existing system has its roots in two international treaties created in the 19th Century: the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property and the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Throughout the 20th Century, these two treaties have been periodically revised and complemented by new treaties such as the WIPO Copyright Treaty and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty of 1996.
However, with the advent of globalization, digital technology, the Internet and breakthrough discoveries in biotechnology, it is clear that new visions and strategies will be needed to meet the challenges ahead for the benefit of all throughout the world. Whereas, in the past, intellectual property was left primarily to lawyers and technical experts, today, it must be seen from the wider perspective of policy thinking and strategic planning taking into account its economic, trade, technological, cultural and social dimensions.
WIPO is the leading Organization charged with the promotion of international cooperation in the field of intellectual property. As such, it is essential that it remains at the hub of international and regional developments in intellectual property and related areas. The establishment of the Policy Advisory Commission (PAC) is an important measure taken by WIPO and its member States to enhance the Organization's capacity to monitor and effectively respond to such developments in a timely and informed manner. It will ensure that, within a rapidly evolving technological landscape, the Organization's activities continue to be relevant to the interests and concerns of the many potential beneficiaries of the international intellectual property system, not least industry and the public at large.
Although policy decisions and direction will remain firmly in the hands of the Organization's member States, it is expected that the independent, expert and authoritative advice of such an eminent group of experts will be both innovative and significant.
For more detailed information, please contact the Media Relations and Public Information Section of WIPO:
Tel.: (+41 22) 338 98 24
Fax: (+41 22) 338 88 10
E-mail: publicinf@wipo.int