IGC 47 Summary

WIPO’s Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) concluded its 47^th session on June 9, 2023. It addressed traditional knowledge (TK) and traditional cultural expressions (TCEs), and took stock of the progress made over the 2022-2023 biennium and made recommendations to the WIPO General Assembly.

IGC 47 was chaired by Ms. Lilyclaire Bellamy of Jamaica, with Mr. Jukka Liedes of Finland, Mr. Yonah Seleti of South Africa and Mr. Felipe Cariño of the Philippines as Vice-Chairs.

Plenary on Agenda Item 5 (“Traditional Knowledge/Traditional Cultural Expressions”)

The IGC requested Mr. Paul Kuruk (Ghana) and Ms. Thea Seferovic (Australia) to act as “Facilitators”. Following the discussions at the IGC’s plenary, the Facilitators presented to the plenary a revision of “The Protection of Traditional Knowledge: Draft Articles – Facilitators’ Rev.” and a revision of “The Protection of Traditional Cultural Expressions: Draft Articles – Facilitators’ Rev.” on June 7. The IGC decided to transmit the revised texts to Agenda Item 6 (“Taking Stock of Progress and Making a Recommendation to the General Assembly”).

The IGC Chair, Ms. Lilyclaire Bellamy, prepared a non-paper of the second draft of a Chair’s Text of a Draft International Legal Instrument relating to Intellectual Property and Traditional Knowledge/Traditional Cultural Expressions. The document is available online in six languages.

Plenary and informal consultations on Agenda Item 6 (“Taking Stock of Progress and Making a Recommendation to the General Assembly”)

On Agenda Item 6, plenary and informal consultations were convened to take stock of progress and discuss a recommendation to the General Assembly. In addition to Member State representatives, the Indigenous Caucus was also represented in these informal consultations. As an outcome, the IGC plenary agreed by consensus:

• that the draft articles on traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions, contained in documents WIPO/GRTKF/IC/47/14 and WIPO/GRTKF/IC/47/15, be transmitted to the 2023 WIPO General Assembly; and
• to recommend to the 2023 WIPO General Assembly that the mandate of the Committee be renewed for the 2024-2025 biennium, and to recommend to the 2023 General Assembly the terms of the mandate and work program for 2024-2025.

The decisions and all the documents of the session are available online.

Indigenous peoples and local communities’ participation

WIPO facilitated a preparatory meeting of the Indigenous Caucus (the meeting is referred to as the “Indigenous Consultative Forum”) on Sunday, June 4, in a hybrid format. Additionally, the Indigenous Caucus organized daily meetings during the session 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).

With the previous contribution of Germany to the WIPO Voluntary Fund, as well as the donations collected during IGC 46, one indigenous representative attended IGC 47.

On June 6, 2023, the Delegation of Australia pledged to contribute 50,000 Australian dollars to the WIPO Voluntary Fund, which will support the participation of Indigenous Peoples and local communities in international negotiations at the future IGC sessions.

Indigenous panel

The indigenous panel, which addressed “Protection of Different Forms of Traditional Knowledge/Traditional Cultural Expressions: Perspectives of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities” was held on Monday morning.

Side events

The Native American Rights Fund, the National Congress of American Indians, the University of Colorado Law School and the Implementation Project co-organized a side event titled Indigenous People’s Participation in the UN: Models and Guidelines for Promoting Effective Participation of Indigenous Peoples at WIPO.

The Ministry of Education and Culture of the Government of Finland organized a side-event to present Ours – Cultural Intellectual Property of Northern Indigenous Peoples.

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