WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  TN/C/W/52 
19 July 2008 
 
 (08-3499) 
Trade Negotiations Committee Original:   English 
  
 
DRAFT MODALITIES FOR TRIPS RELATED ISSUES 
 
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 
 
  The following communication, dated 18 July 2008, is being circulated at the request of the Delegations of Brazil, the European Communities, India and Switzerland. 
 
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  Proponents of the TRIPS related issues under the Doha Work Programme (GI Register, 
TRIPS disclosure requirement and GI Extension) agree to include these issues as part of the horizontal 
process in order to have modality texts that reflect  Ministerial agreement on the key parameters for 
negotiating final draft legal texts with respect to each  of these issues as part of the single undertaking.  
The central objective of the proponents remains the adoption of a procedural decision that would open 
up the way for negotiations on the three issues.  
 We therefore submit draft modalities for consideration by Ministers for TRIPS related issues. 
 
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  ANNEX
 
 
 
 
    
 
   
 
 
DRAFT MODALITIES FOR TRIPS RELATED ISSUES  
 
 
17 July 2008 
  TN/C/W/52 
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  GI-Register:  draft Modality text  
 
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 the notified geographical indication on the 
register.  The elements of the notification will be agreed. 
 2. Each WTO Member shall provide that domestic  authorities will consult the Register and take 
its information into account when making decisi ons regarding registra tion and protection of 
trademarks and geographical indications in accordance with its domestic procedures.  In the 
framework of these procedures, and in the absence of proof to the contrary in the course of these, the 
Register shall be considered as a prima facie evidence that, in that Member, the registered 
geographical indication meets the definition of "geographical indication" laid down in TRIPS 
Article 22.1.  In the framework of these procedur es, domestic authorities shall consider assertions on 
the genericness exception laid down in TRIPS Ar ticle 24.6 only if these are substantiated. 
 
3. Text based negotiations shall be intensified, in Special Sessions of the TRIPS Council and as 
an integral part of the Single Undertaking, to amend the TRIPS Agreement in order to establish the 
Register accordingly. 
 
TRIPS/CBD disclosure:  draft Modality text
 
 4. Members agree to amend the TRIPS Agreemen t to include a mandatory requirement for the 
disclosure of the country providing/source of genetic resources, and/or associated traditional knowledge for which a definition will be agreed, in pa tent applications.  Pate nt applications will not 
be processed without completion of the disclosure requirement. 
 
5. Members agree to define the nature and extent  of a reference to Prior Informed Consent and 
Access and Benefit Sharing.  6. Text based negotiations shall be undertaken, in Special Sessions of the TRIPS Council, and as 
an integral part of the Single Undertaking, to im plement the above.  Additiona l elements contained in 
members' proposals, such as PIC and ABS as an inte gral part of the disclosure requirement and post 
grant sanctions, may also be raised and shall be considered in these negotiations. 
 
GI-Extension:  draft Modality text
 
 7. Members agree to the extension of the prot ection of Article 23 of the TRIPS Agreement to 
geographical indications for all products, in cluding the extension of the Register. 
 8. Text based negotiations shall be undertaken, in  Special Sessions of the TRIPS Council and as 
an integral part of the Single Undertaking, to amend the TRIPS Agreement in order to extend the 
protection of Article 23 of the TRIPS Agreement to  geographical indications for all products as well 
as to apply to these the exceptions provid ed in Article 24 of the TRIPS Agreement mutatis mutandis . 
 9. Special and Differential treatment shall be an integral part of negotiations in the three areas 
above, as well as special measures in favour of deve loping countries and in pa rticular least-developed 
countries. 
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