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The fresh and reinforced mandate for the Intergovernmental Committee (IGC) on IP on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, which would now handle texts-oriented negotiations on an international legal tool targeted to save these resources has gained acceptance of the WIPO member states. This is considered as a kind of breakthrough for the growing countries in their struggle against the suspected secret agenda for forcing a patent agreement through WIPO by rich countries.
However, whether the treaty would be assigned an international status is not yet open.
According to experts, this development is a sort of blow to the rich countries like US, the EU nations and Japan, as during the course of negotiations, they contested that accepting text-based agreements and an international legal instrument was disadvantageous, and rather endeavored to convince growing nations with a political announcement or a suggestion on the issue.
The consensus was reached in advance of the close of the yearly WIPO Assemblies on October 1. According to reports, continuous lobbying between the regional groups and other members, and comprehensive negotiations between growing countries on one side, and the Group B countries including rich nations, on the other, have resulted in the culmination of this agreement.
The growing nations had put in their best efforts at WIPO Assemblies’ 47th Series of Meets that were held in Geneva to obtain a fresh mandate for the IGC that would start text-oriented negotiations for an international legal instrument, with well-defined time-frames recognized for IGC’s work. The developing nations protested against the efforts of the rich nations to weaken the flexibilities featured in TRIPS by extending the description of counterfeiting. Previously, the growing nations had also been worried over the bigger agenda of the organization, managed by US, EU and Japan, on forcing an agenda of patent harmonization.
The growing nations fought for the extension of IGC’s term for the next two years and for pushing the comprehensive and important work performed by WIPO in past nine years by making it compulsory for the IGC to go for text-supported negotiations, with the aim of creating a legally accepted international instrument on Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, within a well laid out time frame. These nations had also said that any attempt to weaken the flexibilities offered under TRIPS by extending the definition of counterfeiting to obstruct the access of low-priced and actual generic drugs to the poor in the growing world would bear an adverse impact on the lawfulness of the global IP framework. Pharmabiz.com
October 8, 2009
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