Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
aimed at preserving each WTO Member's prerogative to determine whether a
certain sign, indication or geographical name met the TRIPS definition of a
GI.
28
Opponents of the EC proposal, the US, Australia, Argentina, Australia,
Canada, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador and New Zealand, opposed the extension
of GIs protection, taking the position that the international protection of GIs
was adequate as it stands and that such a drastic development would only serve
to undermine future gains in market access for non-European food and
agricultural products.
29
Concern has also been expressed about the additional
costs and administrative burdens of implementing a distinct system of GI
protection in addition to the TRIPS obligations. They advocated a system of
voluntary notification and registration with no obligation to protect registered
GIs. A revised Communication from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile,
Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras,
Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Chinese Taipei,
South Africa and the US, proposed that the TRIPS Council should set up a
voluntary system where notified GIs would be registered in a database. Those
governments choosing to participate in the system would have to consult the
database when taking decisions on protection in their own countries. Non-
participating members would be 'encouraged' but 'not obliged' to consult the
database.
30
Hong Kong and China proposed a compromise under which a registered term
would enjoy a more limited 'presumption' than under the EU proposal, and only
in those countries choosing to participate in the system.
31
2.78
In July 2008 a group of WTO members called for a 'procedural decision' to
negotiate three intellectual property issues in parallel: these two GIs issues and a
proposal to require patent applicants to disclose the origin of genetic resources
or traditional knowledge used in their inventions.
32
2.79
In relation to the GIs
Register the proposed text was that:
1.
Members agree to establish a register open to geographical indications for wines
and spirits protected by any of the WTO Members as per TRIPS. Following receipt
of a notification of a geographical indication, the WTO Secretariat shall register
28
Paragraph 3.2(a).
29
See Communication from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, New Zealand and the
United States, TN/IP/W/9, 13 April 2004.
30
TN/IP/W/10/Rev.2, 24 July 2008.
31
TN/IP/W/8, 23 April 2003.
32
Communication from Albania, Brazil, China, Colombia, Ecuador, the European Communities, Iceland, India,
Indonesia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Liechtenstein, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Pakistan, Peru,
Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, the ACP Group and the African Group, TN/C/W/52 of 19 July
2008.
