WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/376/Add.1
13 September 2002
(02-4879)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES:  INFORMATION
FROM OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Addendum
ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT
The present document reproduces the information which has been received from the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) by means of a communication
dated 27 August 2002.
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Communication of Mr. Ken Heydon, Deputy-Director,
to the Chairman of the Council for TRIPS
Paris, 27 August 2002
Dear Ambassador Peréz Motta,
Thank you for your letter of 22 July requesting an updating of information about technical
and financial cooperation programmes in the area of intellectual property relevant to the
implementation of the TRIPS Agreement, for the information of your Council.  The OECD is
currently carrying out work in several areas re lated to intellectual property issues and the
implementation of the TRIPS Agreement.
Since 2001, the OECD Trade Directorate has undertaken three initiatives concerning
intellectual property rights:
− The relationship between regional trade agre ements and the multilateral trading system:
intellectual property rights.  This short paper examines the treatment of IPRs in selected
RTAs to see where and how these arrangements go beyond the requirements of the TRIPS
Agreement.  An unclassified version of this paper is available at
http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2002doc.nsf/LinkTo/td-tc-wp(2002)28-final.
− The impact of intellectual property rights on foreign direct investment and trade:  the case of
developing countries.  This study is now underway. It will highlight the association of
changes in national IPR regimes with developments in trade and FDI flows.  A draft of the
paper will be presented internally at the OECD in Fall 2002 with a possible declassification in
2003.
− Intellectual property rights in the new economy:  technological changes and the protection of
intellectual property rights.  This activity aims to provide an account of (1) major intellectual
property issues related to the new economy, a nd (2) recent initiatives to adapt intellectual
property regimes to the new economy.  The first element of this work will present a road map
to the maze of existing rules and projects on intellectual property protection in the context of
the new economy.  It will include a presentation of multilateral initiatives, as well as someillustrative regional and national developments.  Further work, to be agreed on by Members,
would present a synthetic analysis of intellectual property issues prompted by the new
economy.  It would cover the key intellectual property fields and all aspects of the new
economy, and not be limited to the impact of e-commerce.
The OECD Directorate for Science, Technolo gy and Industry (DSTI) also carries out work
which contributes to TRIPS implementation.  Its work focuses on addressing through the use ofempirical data the impact of TRIPS-compliant IPR policies on the availability of and access to
technology.  The Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy's (CSTP) Working Party on
Biotechnology has a programme of work in place on the impact of IPRs (including patents and
licensing policies) on the availability of and access to genetic inventions.  An expert workshop in
January 2002 in Berlin held under the joint auspices of OECD and the German Federal Ministry forEducation and Research considered the impact of current uses of "gene patents" on clinical uptake of
new diagnostics and therapies, on research freedom , and on new product development.  The workshop
also considered the strategies that firms, govern ments, and civil society are developing to better
manage the proliferation of such "gene patents".IP/C/W/376/Add.1
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A short report of the workshop is available at
http://www.oecd.org/pdf/M00032000/M00032910.pdf, and a more comprehensive report will be
published later this year.  In summary, the workshop concluded that the worst fears of some - that aproliferation of gene patents would restrict access to and availability of technology - had not been
proven by experience.  There was no empirical evidence that the availability of patents resulted inwidespread difficulties in access to or availability of technology.  However, there was room for
improvement in licensing practices and in some of the details of the system - for example, in
establishing what constitutes a research exemption and whether some clinical use exemptions should
be considered.
The Working Party on Biotechnology (WPB) is now considering how best to follow up on
this work. Among the options being considered is development of best practice guidelines forlicensing of genetic inventions and developing indicators for economic and other impacts of such
inventions.  Other WPB work - particularly on improving the availability of and access to
biotechnological interventions against infectious diseases - is closely related to major topics under
discussion at the TRIPS Council.
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