The World Trade Organization’s Council for Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) has resumed its discussions on the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

At the latest meeting, held from 8-9 March 2005, in Geneva, Switzerland, a number of developing countries submitted a proposal on the need to provide evidence of benefit-sharing in patent applications. The proposal on benefit-sharing, submitted by Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, India, Peru and Thailand, touched on the final element of a checklist of issues that were submitted a year ago by Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, India, Peru, Thailand and Venezuela. The aim of this submission was to facilitate and structure the discussion on the relationship between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD. The checklist also included the elements of disclosure of origin and source, and prior informed consent, which were addressed in earlier proposals.
The proposal on benefit-sharing examines: the meaning of evidence of benefit-sharing under the relevant national regime; the timing of evidence to be introduced by the patent applicant; obligations in the case of absence of a relevant national regime; and the legal effect of not providing evidence of benefit-sharing, including the non-processing of the application and the revocation of the patent.
According to reports, positions taken during the meeting remained largely unchanged. Developing countries called for an international system to prevent misappropriation of genetic resources and traditional knowledge. Developed countries restated that the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD can be mutually supportive, and opposed amendment of the TRIPS Agreement in this regard.
Brazil and India further submitted a communication (IP/C/W/442) responding to issues raised in an earlier US submission (IP/C/W/434). The US position is that it sees no conflict between the TRIPS Agreement and the CBD and “views with the utmost caution any proposals that would add uncertainties in patent rights that may undermine the role of the delicately balanced patent system in its primary purpose of encouraging innovation, technological progress and economic development.”
Links to further information
ICTSD Bridges Trade BioRes, Vol. 5 No. 5, 18 March 2005
Officials make incremental progress in TRIPS talks, IP Watch, 15 March 2005
Proposal on benefit-sharing (IP/C/W/442) and other submissions, WTO website, 2005