Intellectual Property Programme • Volume 4 • Number 27 • 7th November 2000

Experts Tackle Protection Of Traditional Knowledge at UNCTAD Meeting

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The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Experts Meeting on Systems and National Experiences for protecting Traditional Knowledge (TK), Innovations and Practices was held in Geneva from 30 October to 1 November. The meeting brought together representatives of national governments, intergovernmental organisations (IGOs), and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) in what participants described as a state-of-the-art summary of current activities in this field.

The role of Traditional Knowledge in general and in the sectors of agriculture, traditional medicine and healthcare, and folklore was discussed in the first part of the conference, while the focus of the following parts was on systems for the protection of TK with a special emphasis on so-called sui generis systems and on how to harness TK for development. Along with the statements of experts, many countries took the opportunity to present their national experiences with TK.

One of the most controversial issues raised at the meeting was the question whether or not to discuss protection of TK within WTO bodies. While the Indian delegation spoke in favour of an integration of the discussion in the multilateral trade system, other countries such as the Philippines and Switzerland indicated that they did not want the conference to explicitly recommend this line of action.

The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) announced the creation of an Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore as decided by WIPO’s General Assembly a few weeks ago. The committee will be open to all Member States of WIPO and is scheduled to meet for the first time from 30 April to 3 May 2001.

Representatives of Holders of TK repeatedly expressed their discontent that the meeting had been convened on ‘Systems to Protect TK’, while in their view the only issue actually discussed was the ‘commercialisation’ of TK. They called upon participants consider non-material values of TK (e.g. cultural, philosophical, spiritual) equally with commercial values and to develop strategies to strengthen customary laws rather than focussing on the adaptation of the existing intellectual property rights system (IPR).

All major IGOs involved in the discussion around TK and Intellectual Property Rights were represented at the meeting, including the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the WTO, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN (FAO), the World Bank, the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), and UNCTAD. Among the NGOs participating were WWF International, and IUCN-the World Conservation Union. The perspective of Traditional Communities was represented among others by Alejandro Argumedo (Indigenous Peoples Biodiversity Network), Suman Sahai (Consultant) and Maui Solomon (Consultant).