Committee Meetings

IGC - Consultations to Continue on Future Work Program

After attempts to hammer out compromise texts on the future work program of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) faltered at the Committee's 13th session, WIPO Director General Francis Gurry and the IGC Chairman, Ambassador Rigoberto Gauto Vielman of Paraguay, said they would pursue efforts to bridge differences among Member States to move the international negotiations forward. The IGC's mandate calls upon the Committee to accelerate its work, and expectations remain strong that the Committee should produce a significant outcome by the time it is required to report back to the WIPO General Assembly in September 2009.

Mr. Gurry described the outcome as disappointing, but suggested, "the failure to close a deal was a measure of the political significance of what is on the table: potentially, a major normative shift in the intellectual property system." He remarked on the increasing political will to find a substantive and credible basis for systematic recognition, within the law of intellectual property, of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

"We had an excellent week of discussions where delegations showed a high level of engagement and I am personally surprised that at the end we could not agree," said Ambassador Gauto Vielman. He added, "There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the process needs to move forward in a meaningful way. The disagreements centered on the best manner to achieve this." He said the time available for the 13th session, which met from October 13 to 17, had been insufficient to bridge the differences, and indicated that he would pursue informal consultations with Member States and observers, including representatives of indigenous and local communities taking part in the IGC's work, before the next session.

The program and budget adopted by WIPO Member States foresees two full IGC sessions in 2009.

Proposals and counter-proposals

An African Group initiative called for inter-sessional procedures, including three expert groups charged with distilling key findings from the IGC's extensive work on the protection of...