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DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS REMAIN DIVISIVE IN WIPO PATENT REFORM
DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS REMAIN DIVISIVE IN WIPO PATENT REFORM Efforts to reform the international patent system continued at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) where member countries met for the Working Group on the Reform of the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) from 3-7 May and the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents from 10-14…
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CODEX AGREES ON TRACEABILITY, STALLED ON BIOTECH LABELLING
Biotechnology-related issues featured highly on the agendas of both the Codex Committee on General Principles (CCGP), meeting in Paris, France, on 3-7 May, and the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL), meeting in Montreal, Canada, on 10-14 May. While the CCGP adopted a definition for traceability/product tracing, the CCFL made virtually no progress on labelling…
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EU APPROVES GM CANNED MAIZE
On 19 May, the European Commission approved the sale of Syngenta’s Bt-11 sweet corn. The genetically modified (GM) maize, which will be sold canned, is the first approval in five years of biotech food sales within Europe. The maize imports, authorised for a period of 10 years "has been subjected to the most rigorous pre-marketing…
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TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE ON THE AGENDA AT UNFF-4
TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE ON THE AGENDA AT UNFF-4 The fourth session of the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF-4) was held in Geneva, Switzerland, from 3-14 May. Faced with an ambitious agenda of seven decisions to negotiate, UNFF-4 succeeded in adopting only five of them, failing, inter alia, to agree on a resolution dealing with traditional…
- In Brief
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EU-Russia Summit: Putin Signals Support for Kyoto Protocol
Following an EU-Russia summit on 21 May — at which the EU agreed to support Russia’s WTO accession — Russian President Putin said he would “speed up” Russia’s process to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Both topics had been slated for possible inclusion in an EU-Russia package deal (see BRIDGES Weekly, 28 April 2004). The Kyoto…
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Study Highlights Economic Consequences of Sea Turtle Decline
A study by the environment group WWF, the first global assessment of the economic value of sea turtle, reports that a decline in sea turtle population would threaten jobs, tourism and coastal economies, especially in developing countries. According to the report “Money Talks: Economic Aspects of Marine Turtle Use and Conservation“, marine turtle tourism brings…
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Monsanto Wins Controversial Biotech Dispute in Canada
On 21 May, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Monsanto in a case it had brought against a farmer that had replanted and sold canola containing modified genetic material patented by Monsanto. The farmer, Percy Schmeiser, claimed that the biotech canola seed had landed on his fields by accident from a neighbouring…
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Seahorse Protected Under CITES
On 15 May, seahorses became the first commercially valuable marine genus to be protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). A number of the world’s species of seahorses are threatened because of overfishing and unsustainable trade. IUCN lists nine seahorse species as vulnerable and one as endangered. Trade in recent years…
- Events
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Events
For a more comprehensive list of events in trade and sustainable development, please refer to ICTSD’s web calendar. Please bear in mind that dates and times of WTO meetings are often changed, and that the WTO does not always announce the important informal meetings of the different bodies. Coming up in the next two weeks For…
- Resources
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Resources
If you have a relevant resource (books, papers, bulletins, etc.) you would like to see announced in this section, please forward a copy or review by the BRIDGES staff to Marianne Jacobsen. LAW AND MODERN BIOTECHNOLOGY: SELECTED ISSUES OF RELEVANCE TO FOOD AND AGRICULTURE. By L. Glowka and A. Ingrassia. (FAO Law Office, 2003). This study,…