Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
registration of geographical indications for wines and spirits by the Fifth Session of the
Ministerial Conference.' 24
2.74
Article 24.1 of the TRIPS Agreement provides that WTO Members 'agree to
enter into negotiations aimed at increasing the protection of individual geo-
graphical indications under Article 23'. In addition Art 24.2 contains a general
obligation for the Council for TRIPS to keep under review the application of
the provisions of section 3 of the TRIPS Agreement, which contains its GIs
chapter and that 'the first such review shall take place within two years of the
entry into force of the WTO Agreement'.
2.75
As will be seen below, there has occasionally been confusion between the
negotiations for a multilateral system for wines and spirits and the general
review of the GIs provisions, including the possibility of extending the protec-
tion conferred upon wines and spirits to other products as well as extending the
multilateral system to these other products.
2.76
On 1 February 2002 the Trade Negotiations Committee of the WTO estab-
lished the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS to conduct the negoti-
ations. On 1 August 2004 the General Council adopted a decision on the 'Doha
Work Programme'. In its paragraph 1.f, the General Council reaffirmed
Members' commitment to progress in this area of negotiations in line with the
Doha mandates. 25 In para 29 of the Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration
adopted on 18 December 2005, Ministers 'agree[d] to intensify these negoti-
ations in order to complete them within the overall time-frame for the
conclusion of the negotiations that were foreseen in the Doha Ministerial
Declaration'. 26
2.77
In June 2005 the EC submitted a proposal to amend the TRIPS Agreement to
provide global protection for GIs in a multilateral system of registration. This
proposal sought to bring international protection for GIs into conformity with
the European Union. The EC submission set out provisions for a centralised
register that would be compulsory and have legal effect. 27
The EC proposal
24
The text of the Declaration can be found in WTO Doc WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1 20 November 2001.
25
Doha Work Programme - Decision Adopted by the General Council on 1 August 2004, WTO Doc
WT/L/579.
26
See WTO Doc, WT/MIN/(05)/DEC.
27
Communication from the European Communities. The communication, dated, is being circulated to the
General Council, to the TNC and to the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS at the request of the
Delegation of the European Commission (TN/IP/W/11) of 13 June 2005. This new proposal maintains
the level of ambition of the EC as regards both 'extension' and the multilateral register of GIs, as contained in its
earlier proposals in documents IP/C/W/107/Rev.1 (on the GI register) and IP/C/W/353 (on 'extension').
 
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