News and Analysis • Volume 11 • Number 6 • October 2007

WIPO Update

On 28 September, member governments of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) formally adopted a new Development Agenda, meant to insert a development dimension across all of the institution’s activities.

The agenda consists of 45 recommendations dealing six areas of activity: (a) technical assistance and capacity-building; (b) norm-setting; (c) technology transfer, information and communication technology, and access to knowledge; (d) assessment, evaluation and impact studies; (e) institutional matters and; (f ) enforcement.

Many of the 19 recommendations slated for immediate implementation aim to change institutional culture and practices. They stress that WIPO’s technical and legislative assistance must be developmentoriented and member-driven, and that its staff and consultants should be neutral and accountable. For instance, the Secretariat’s advice to developing countries with regard to the implementation and operation of the TRIPS Agreement should include understanding and use of the flexibilities available under the treaty, rather than just focus on the rights and obligations it contains. Another recommendation urges governments to accelerate work on genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore without excluding the possible development of an international legal instrument in this field.

The recommendations also call for the inclusion of a wide range of stakeholders from civil society into WIPO’s norm-setting and other activities. The latter should take into consideration “the preservation of the public domain […] and deepen the analysis of the implications of a rich and accessible public domain.” Upon request by member states, the Secretariat should undertake assessments of possible development impacts of IPR protection.

A new Committee on Development and Intellectual Property will meet twice in the next year to consider the implementation of these recommendations, as well as the other 26, many of which have either financial or human resources implications.