IGC 48 and 49 Summary
December 12, 2024
WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge, and Folklore (IGC) convened for its 48th and 49th sessions on November 29, 2024, and from December 2 to 6, 2024, respectively.
IGC 48
IGC 48 was co-chaired by Ms. Erika Watanabe Patriota of Brazil and Ms. Anna Vuopala of Finland, with Ms. Alhanoof Aldebasi of Saudi Arabia and Ms. Audrey Akweley Yeboawaa Neequaye of Ghana serving as Vice-Chairs.
IGC 48 was the first session of the 2024/2025 biennium following the successful Diplomatic Conference on Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge in May 2024, which saw the adoption of the WIPO Treaty on Intellectual Property, Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge (WIPO Treaty). During the one-day session, the IGC took stock of progress made on genetic resources and traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources and took note of the adoption of the WIPO Treaty.
The decisions and all the documents of the session are available online.
IGC 49
IGC 49 was chaired by Ms. Anna Vuopala of Finland, with Ms. Erika Watanabe Patriota of Brazil, Ms. Alhanoof Aldebasi of Saudi Arabia and Ms. Audrey Akweley Yeboawaa Neequaye of Ghana serving as Vice-Chairs.
IGC 49 marked the first session of the biennium to address traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs).
Plenary on Agenda Item 5 (“Traditional Knowledge/Traditional Cultural Expressions”)
The IGC requested Mr. Paul Kuruk (African Union) and Ms. Aurelia Schultz (United States of America) to act as “Facilitators”. Following discussions in the plenary and informals, the Facilitators presented revisions of “The Protection of Traditional Knowledge: Draft Articles – Facilitators’ Rev.” and “The Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions: Draft Articles – Facilitators’ Rev.” on December 5, 2024.
However, Member States were unable to reach consensus on the Facilitators’ texts. The Committee decided not to transmit these texts to IGC 50 and instead agreed to continue working on the basis of documents WIPO/GRTKF/IC/49/4 and WIPO/GRTKF/IC/49/5.
Furthermore, some Member States proposed that IGC 50 should use the Chair’s Text as a basis for negotiation, while some Member States opposed.
The decisions and all the documents of the session are available online.
Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities’ participation in IGC 48 and 49
WIPO facilitated two preparatory meetings of the Indigenous Caucus (referred to as the “Indigenous Consultative Forum”) on November 28 and December 1, 2024, in a hybrid format. The Indigenous Caucus also held daily meetings during the sessions and met separately with the IGC Chair and Member State delegates.
The WIPO Secretariat continued to fund secretarial services (secretariat, interpretation and translation) for Indigenous Peoples and local communities at the session, provided by the Documentation Centre for Indigenous Peoples (Docip).
The WIPO Voluntary Fund continues to face challenges in securing sufficient resources to support the participation of representatives of Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities. Currently, the Voluntary Fund is depleted. Despite four applicants being recommended for funding to attend IGC 48 and 49, none could participate due to the lack of resources. As the situation stands, funding participants for IGC 50 may not be possible.
Indigenous panel
The Indigenous panel, which addressed “Intellectual Property and Traditional Medical Systems: A Path to Protection” was held on Monday morning.
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