At the TRIPS Council meeting on 25-26 October 2006, members discussed the issue of intellectual property and genetic resources but no progress has been reported.

Peru submitted a new paper elaborating on its earlier submission on biopiracy cases, to strengthen many developing countries’ prior proposals to amend the TRIPS Agreement to incorporate a requirement to disclose the origin of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge in patent applications, along with evidence of prior informed consent and benefit-sharing. A number of developed countries still opposed the amendment, arguing that there is no conflict between the TRIPS Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). These countries also supported the creation of international traditional knowledge databases for use by patent examiners, an idea that has been opposed by indigenous groups.
Links to further information
Bridges Trade BioRes, vol. 6, no. 19, 3 November 2006
IP Watch, 10 October 2006
IP Watch, 25 October 2006
IP Watch, 27 October 2006
IP Watch, 1 November 2006