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WIPO Director General Presents Draft Program and Budget for 2000-2001 to Member States

Geneva, March 26, 1999
Press Releases PR/1999/162

The Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization, Dr. Kamil Idris, presented this week the draft program and budget for 2000-2001 to the member states of the Organization, describing it as a "do more with less" approach. The draft, which he referred to as a "global intellectual property development strategy", was finalized after two rounds of informal consultations with member states (in January and March 1999). The proposal will be put formally to the member states at a meeting of the Program and Budget Committee on April 26-28, 1999, which will make recommendations to the WIPO Assemblies. The program and budget will be formally adopted by the Assemblies in September.

The Introduction to the document states that the Secretariat will continue to build on achievements made in the last biennium that were aimed at modernizing WIPO and equipping the Organization with a strategic planning outlook and a broad-based policy development mechanism. Efforts will continue to be made towards increased transparency, accountability and efficient management.

In addition to building on achievements made over the past two years, activities in 2000-2001 will focus on training staff, obtaining the necessary premises, facilities and equipment as well as exploring new global intellectual property issues. Proposals are also made to continue to improve and enhance the impact on the market sector of the three chief WIPO activities: progressive development of international intellectual property law, global protection systems and cooperation for development. WIPO will continue to work with developing countries to further enhance the capacity of national intellectual property systems and promote international and regional cooperation.

The draft proposes a budget of 409.7 million Swiss Francs (CHF) for the 2000-2001 biennium, representing an increase of 8.1 per cent over the 1998-1999 biennium (378.9 million CHF). Projected income for the same time period is 409.8 million CHF as compared to 391.8 million CHF in the previous biennium. The surplus in the 2000-2001 biennium is therefore expected to be negligible.

Another feature of the 2000-2001 draft program and budget is a reduction in the contributions by member states of 10 per cent below the 1999 level, which is in itself 10 per cent below the 1998 level. Unlike other specialized agencies of the United Nations, WIPO is mostly self-financed, generating its income from services it renders to the private sector. In presenting the draft program to member states the Director General said "We are not proposing any increase in the contributions of member states; on the contrary, we are proposing just the opposite." Dr. Idris noted that "Contributions for the 2000-2001 biennium would therefore be some 15 per cent below the average level for the 1998-1999 biennium."

The draft also contains a proposal to once again lower the fees of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) by an average of 13 per cent effective January 1, 2000. If approved by the member states the cumulative effect of this measure (including two earlier PCT fee reductions in 1998 and 1999) would mean a 29.2 per cent reduction in the income of the PCT.

Dr. Idris said that while there is a proposed 8.1 per cent program increase as compared to the previous biennium, the 10 per cent reduction in contributions by Member States and the 13 per cent proposed cut in PCT fees, "this is in acuality a below zero growth budget if we really consider all those elements in a broader scope." Dr. Idris added this is what he meant by a 'do more with less' approach.

The draft program and budget for 2000-2001 seeks to ensure that WIPO remains on track to be a modern, forward-looking organization that is efficient, transparent and accountable to its member states and the private sector which it services. Emphasis will continue to be placed on modernizing and strengthening the global intellectual property system, streamlining international cooperation in the field of intellectual property, increasing participation of civil society in further developing the intellectual property system, and technical cooperation programs for developing countries and countries in transition.

The Director General underlined that in the next millennium, economic growth and intellectual property will go hand in hand. "The next century, according to our vision of this Organization, will be the century of the mind and the century of the digital economy in which intellectual property will be a driving force."

Dr. Idris said "If this assumption is correct, then WIPO should be empowered with the capacity and ability to convert this knowledge into innovation and convert innovation into wealth and social good." He emphasized that to succeed in the next century, WIPO "must unleash its great potential and the complementarities and synergies within this Organization."

The draft program and budget document is available on the Internet at https://www.wipo.int. For further information, please contact the Media Relations and Public Affairs Section at WIPO:

Tel: (+41 22) 338 8161; (+41 22) 338 95 47
Fax: (+41 22) 338 88 10
E-mail: publicinf@wipo.int

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