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TRIPS review Intense pressure from mainly the United States -- more accurately: a handful of US corporations -- brought intellectual property rights into the fold of international trade policy for the first time in 1994, at the signing of the Marrakech accords establishing the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property, or TRIPS for short, is a central pillar of the multilateral trade system today. TRIPS obliges all WTO members to provide patents on all forms of technology -- including biotechnology. The aim is to provide market control and royalty flows to industrialised countries, which own 95% of all patents in the world. There are a few exceptions to the blanket rule about all things being patentable. Those relating to agriculture and biodiversity are contained in Article 27.3(b) of the TRIPS Agreement. It says that plants and animals, but not microorganisms, can be excluded from patentability in national laws. However, while "plants" don't have to be patented, "plant varieties" -- in plain terms, the seeds that farmers sow -- must be made subject to some form of intellectual property, either patents or "an effective sui generis system". This little subparagraph was so controversial that when negotiators finally agreed to it, they added a special commitment to review it four years it after its entry into force. It entered into force in 1995 and went under review in 1999. Five years later, it is still under review. At stake is the crucial issue of whether life forms and processes should be subject to exclusive monopoly rights. (How can anyone claim to have invented a gene or a snippet of DNA?) Many peoples and countries object to this very idea for many reasons, be they ethical, moral, religious, political, economic, social, culture, scientific, professional or legal. The TRIPS Agreement is binding on all WTO members. Any country that does not implement it is subject to trade sanctions. This section of the website pulls together documents from and about the review of Article 27.3(b), taking place in the WTO TRIPS Council. Developing countries have made many numerous proposals to amend TRIPS to prohibit patents on life, limit biopiracy by identifying the origin of genetic materials and traditional knowledge in patent applications or guarantee space within TRIPS for farmers' and indigenous peoples rights. The industrialised countries don't want to "weaken" the protection their companies get under the current text and are not willing to discuss many of these ideas. Many NGOs and people's organisations, in the meantime, want the whole thing scrapped: no trade offs, no incorporation of people's rights into the TRIPS Agreement, no IPRs on life!
Analyses and reports IP after Doha: can South move its agenda on biodiversity & TK? (Carlos M Correa, Mar-2005)
PVP in the South: caving in to UPOV
(GRAIN, Oct-2004)
TRIPS: From Río to Cancún: The rights of the peoples are non-negotiable
(Silvia Rodríguez, Ángel Ibarra and Alejandra Rotania, Sep-2003) TRIPS review at a turning point? (GRAIN, Jul-2003)
The African Proposal to the WTO: We Have The Right Not to Patent Life and to Recognize Community Knowledge
(Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, Jul-2003) |
WTO disclosure talks try to clarify CBD-TRIPS relationship (ICTSD, Mar-2006) WTO discussions on biodiversity intensify as differences remain (IP Watch, Mar-2006) New submissions feed CBD debate at TRIPS Council meeting (IP Watch, Mar-2006) Campaign for review of TRIPS to be launched (The Hindu (New Delhi), Aug-2005) India calls for biodiversity protection under WTO (IANS, Aug-2005) Disclosure continues to divide TRIPS Council (ICTSD, Jun-2005) TRIPS Council focuses on benefit-sharing for genetic resources (ICTSD, Mar-2005) TRIPS Council: developing countries seek to move debate forward on disclosure issues (ICTSD, Sep-2004) Países en desarrollo proponen en la OMC prevenir 'biopiratería' (EFE, Sep-2004) Biodiversity discussions stagnate in TRIPS Council (ICTSD, Jun-2004) US, Japan put spanner on bid for bio-piracy check (KG Narendranath, Apr-2004) TRIPS Council discusses biodiversity (ICTSD, Mar-2004) Cancun Update: IPRs (ICTSD, Aug-2003) US Congress resolution on African farmers' rights (Rep. Maxine Waters, Jul-2003) The power of peoples' traditional knowledge: How TRIPS threatens biodiversity & food sovereignty (EED partners, Jun-2003) Campaign to demand adoption of African Group's proposal on traditional knowledge at the WTO Cancun Ministerial (Diverse Women for Diversity, Jun-2003) CBD-TRIPS discussion picking up speed at the WTO (ICTSD, Jun-2003)
Africa reiterates proposal to ban life patents
(TWN, Jun-2003)
Draft modalities for TRIPS-related issues (17 July 2008) Jul-2008
Response to questions raised on the draft amendment to TRIPS — Article 29bis
(Brazil, Jul-2006)
Amending the TRIPS Agreement to introduce an obligation to disclose the origin of genetic resources and traditional knowledge in
patent applications
(Norway, Jun-2006)
Doha work programme: the outstanding implementation issue on the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD (developing countries proposed Article 29bis)
(Brazil, India, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Tanzania and others, May-2006)
Article 27.3(b), relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD, and the protection of traditional knowledge
and folklore
(USA, Mar-2006)
The relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity - Summary of issues raised and points made
(WTO TRIPS Council Secretariat, Mar-2006)
Review of the provisions of Article 27.3(b) - summary of issues raised and points made
(WTO TRIPS Council Secretariat, Mar-2006)
The protection of traditional knowledge and folklore - summary of issues raised and points made
(WTO TRIPS Council Secretariat, Mar-2006)
BIO letter opposing amendments to the TRIPS Agreement
(Biotechnology Industry Organization, Dec-2005)
The relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the protection of traditional Knowledge: technical observations on the United States submission IP/C/W449
(Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, India and Pakistan, Nov-2005)
Analysis of potential cases of biopiracy
(Peru, Nov-2005)
Report of the TRIPS Council Meeting, 14-15 June 2005
(WTO Secretariat, Sep-2005)
Article 27.3(b), relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD, and the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore
(USA, Jun-2005)
Article 27.3(b), relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD and protection of traditional knowledge and folklore
(Peru, Jun-2005)
The relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore and the review of implementation of the TRIPS Agreement under Article 71.1
(Switzerland, May-2005)
Article 27.3(b), relationship between the TRIPS agreement and the CBD and protection of traditional knowledge and folklore
(Peru, May-2005)
The relationship between the TRIPS agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the protection of traditional knowledge — elements of the obligation to disclose evidence of benefit-sharing under the relevant national regime
(Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican RepublicEcuador, India, Peru and Thailand, Mar-2005)
The relationship between the TRIPS agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the protection of traditional knowledge. Technical observations on issues raised in a communication by the United States
(India and Brazil, Mar-2005)
The relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the protection of traditional knowledge - Elements of the obligation to disclose evidence of prior informed consent under the relevant national regime
(Bolivia et al., Dec-2004)
Article 27.3(b), relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD, and the protection of traditional knowledge and folklore
(United States, Nov-2004)
Further observations by Switzerland on its proposals regarding the declaration of the source of genetic resources and traditional knowledge in patent applications
(Switzerland, Nov-2004)
Official country positions and proposals on TRIPS Article 27.3(b)
(GRAIN, Oct-2004)
Elements of the obligation to disclose the source and country of origin of the biological resources and/or traditional knowledge used in an invention
(Brazil et al., Sep-2004)
Elements of the obligation to disclose the source and country of origin of biological resource and/or traditional knowledge used in an invention
(Brazil et al., Sep-2004)
Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Peru, Thailand and Venezuela
Mar-2004 Africa-Caribbean-Pacific countries Aug-2003
African Group
Jun-2003
Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Thailand, Venezuela
Jun-2003 ISF Position on Disclosure of Origin in Intellectual Property Protection Applications (International Seed Federation, Jun-2003)
Extract from the 2nd LDC Trade Ministers Meeting
Jun-2003
Switzerland
May-2003
European Community
Sep-2002
QUNO reports
Scientific briefing on TRIPS Art 27.3(b)
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