WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/W/539/Add.5 
22 October 2009 
 
 (09-5225) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects 
of Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATION ACTIVITIES: 
INFORMATION FROM MEMBERS 
 
CANADA 
 
Addendum  
  
 The following communication, dated 21 October 2009, is being circulated at the request of 
the delegation of Canada.  
 
_______________ 
 
 1. Pursuant to Article 67 of the Agreement on Tr ade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property 
Rights (TRIPS), the Council for TRIPS requests th at developed country Members report on their 
technical and financial cooperation programmes in fa vour of developing and least developed country 
Members.  The present document provides inform ation on Canada's activities concerning technical 
and financial cooperation in fa vour of developing and least developed country Members.  
2. Canada has undertaken a number of technical cooperation activities at the bilateral, regional 
and multilateral levels.  Canada's  bilateral efforts are mainly focused on the Latin American, 
Caribbean and Asia-Pacific regions.  Canada's regi onal activities are mainly undertaken in the context 
of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Intellect ual Property Rights Expert's Group (APEC-IPEG), 
where Canada participates actively in the organi zation's biannual deliberations aimed at sharing 
information and best practices on intellectual property rights.  At the multilateral level, Canada works 
in close collaboration with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). 
3. The following summary provides an update of these activities, wh ich are mainly administered 
by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (C IPO), the Canadian International Development 
Agency (CIDA), International Development Research  Centre (IDRC), Health Canada (HC) and the 
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).  Other Cana dian institutions, such as the Centre for Trade 
Policy and Law (CTPL) and Department of Foreign A ffairs and International Trade (DFAIT), are also 
involved in international tec hnical cooperation efforts.   
I. CANADIAN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OFFICE (CIPO) 
4. CIPO hosted its annual CIPO/WIPO Executive Workshop  on the " Application of 
Management Techniques in the Delivery of Intellectual Property Services ".  The training course is 
open to nationals from the followi ng Regions: Latin America, Caribbean Region, Asia-Pacific, the 
Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe.    
 IP/C/W/539/Add.5 
Page 2  
 
  In June 2008, nine senior officials from Bangladesh , Cambodia, Cuba, Mauritius, Mexico, Pakistan, 
the Republic of Maldives, the Ukraine and Zambia pa rticipated in the 5-day workshop.  It provided 
participants with insight into the Canadian IP sy stem and the management techniques used at CIPO, 
with a view to improve the capacity of intellectua l property officials in developing countries. The 
2009 workshop is scheduled to take place from 19-23 October 2009.  Both CIPO and WIPO bear all 
costs associated w ith this workshop. 
 5. CIPO provides other activities in favour of deve loping and least developed country Members, 
including the following: 
• performing state-of-the-art searches under the WIPO Patent Information Searches for 
developing countries; 
 
• providing search and examination reports of  patent applications under the WIPO 
Programme of International Cooperation in th e Search and Examination of Inventions 
(ICSEI);  and 
 
• supplying free copies of Canadian patent  documents for developing countries, upon 
request from WIPO. 
 
II. CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (CIDA) 
6. The APEC-WTO Capacity Building Initiative Ec onomic Integration Programme (APEC-EIP) 
is a CIDA Can$9.95 million initiative, implemented with the Conference Board of Canada and the 
Estey Centre for Law and Economics in Internat ional Trade, aiming to build the capacity of 
government agencies and departments in four AP EC economies in Southeast Asia (Viet Nam, 
Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines) as well  as Cambodia and Lao PDR.  In Cambodia, 
APEC-EIP has developed an Intellectual Property co mponent to enforce intellectual property rights 
and train personnel in the country.  In 2007-2008, wi th the expert advice of APEC-EIP, the Ministry 
of Commerce drafted the legislation on "Trade S ecrets and Undisclosed Information" and related 
sub-decrees and, at the request of the Secretary of  State, APEC-EIP developed a training curriculum 
on the new legislation for members of the Cambodi an judiciary.  In addition, APEC-EIP has 
developed - and delivered - a broader training curri culum on trade policy and the WTO, in which the 
course entitled "Introduction to Trade Policy an d the WTO" makes reference to the TRIPS 
Agreement, as part of its review of the scope of WTO sectoral coverage.  The responsibility for the 
training curriculum is now being transferred to the newly created South East Asia Trade Policy 
Training Network (SEATRANET), which is r eceiving institutional support by APEC-EIP. 
III. INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTRE (IDRC) 
7. IDRC's Pan Americas Networking initiative has he lped countries such as Haiti in developing 
capacity for Internet use.  IDRC's Pan Asia Networking initiative h as focussed on Viet Nam, 
Lao PDR, Sri Lanka and Nepal.  In these countries, ID RC assisted in the elaboration of a participatory 
process for formulating the country's information technologies policy.  IDRC also assisted in the 
implementation of the participatory process and the country's information technologies policy.  IDRC 
is funding research projects to support developing countries to better understand the implications of 
intellectual property rules which have an important  impact on access to digital content.  These 
countries should be able to develop policies that foster access to information and knowledge.  IDRC is 
supporting three regional research netw orks in Asia (LIRNE Asia), Latin America (DIRSI) and Africa 
(RIA) actively participating in the policy dial ogue around the contribution of ICTs to economic 
growth and development.  Particularly, these netw orks are assessing developing countries' policies 
and regulatory environment as they relate to the tel ecom sector.  They are also developing indicators  IP/C/W/539/Add.5 
 Page 3 
 
 
  to inform decision making and investments in IC Ts that could best contribute to sustainable 
development. 
IV. HEALTH CANADA (HC) 
8. Health Canada continues to take opportuni ties at international venues to inform drug 
regulatory authorities from developing and least developed countries about Canada's Access to 
Medicines Regime (CAMR), which came into effect  in May 2005.  CAMR was established to enable 
Canada to respond to the 30 A ugust 2003 Decision of the WTO on th e Implementation of Paragraph 6 
of the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement a nd Public Health and pe rmit the export of lower-
cost versions of patented therapeutic products  from Canada to developing and least developed 
countries with inadequate or no manufacturing capac ity.  As an example, Health Canada provided 
information to drug regulatory authorities from African nations during World Health Organization 
consultations that took place in  December 2006 and June 2007. 
9. In addition, Health Canada contributed to de veloping OECD Guidelines for the Licensing of 
Genetic Inventions, which include guidance on best  practices for governing licensing in genetics to 
address urgent and unmet health needs in developed and developing countries.  More generally, these 
guidelines, which focus on access for public health systems and health researchers, provide a model 
governance mechanism for progressive licensing in hea lth sciences that would benefit health systems 
in developing countries as well as developed countr ies with public health care systems.  Health 
Canada is working to develop approaches to optim ally disseminate, publicize, promote and facilitate 
the uptake of the OECD Guidelines through a ra nge of appropriate ch annels in Canada. 
V. ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE (RCMP) 
10. The RCMP is an active member of the Interpol Intellectual Property Crime Action Group 
(IIPCAG), a body which provides Interpol's General Secretariat with expert advice on all matters 
pertaining to IP Crime.  Fifty per cent of the IIPCAG members come from law enforcement and fifty 
per cent private-sector.  This international fo rum continually seeks to promote international 
cooperation and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) training. 
11. The RCMP and Interpol co-hosted the 2nd International Law Enforcement IP Crime 
Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on 24- 26 June, 2008.  The conference brought together 
over 390 police and customs personnel and stakehol ders from 45 countries (including two LDCs, 
Angola and Liberia) for the purpose of discussing tr ends, exchanging best practices and networking. 
12. The RCMP, within the context of the IIPCAG, ha s contributed and continues to provide input 
towards training modules and IIPCAG's generic investigator's guide. 
13. Since 2007, the RCMP also contributed to thr ee International IP Crime Training Seminars 
hosted by Interpol in Rome, Italy.  The seminars have been given to partic ipants from developed and 
least developed countries, facilitating the exchange of best practices and t echniques and networking. 
VI. OTHER CANADIAN INSTITUTIONS AND RESOURCES 
14. Other Canadian institutions have also been involved in providing technical assistance to 
developing and least deve loped country Members. 
15. For example, Canada-based Centre for Tr ade Policy and Law (CTPL) is a Canadian 
institution that provides developing and transition economies with guidance and support to sustain 
them in the short-term and with  the knowledge and tools to ensu re their full participation in 
international trade agreements, including specific training on intellectual property law and policy IP/C/W/539/Add.5 
Page 4  
 
  issues.  CTPL offers a Certificate Programme  in Trade Policy and Commercial Diplomacy each 
summer in Ottawa, Canada, that teaches the fundame ntals of international trade agreements, trade 
policy formulation, and trade negotiation skills.  The course includes a two-day module on TRIPS and 
related issues.  The course, which continued in 2 008, is attended primarily by government officials 
from developing countries and countries in trans ition whose attendance is sponsored by CIDA. 
16. Lastly, officials from the Department of Forei gn Affairs and International Trade participated 
as speakers in the WTO "Regional Workshop on Ce rtain Topical Issues in Regard to Intellectual 
Property for Countries of the Caribbean", held in  Bridgetown, Barbados, 15-17 September 2009 and 
at "L'Atelier régional sur certaines questions d'actu alité concernant la propriété intellectuelle à 
l'intention des pays africains francophones", held in Tunis, Tunisia, 13-15 October 2009.  The 
Workshops addressed a number of important policy issues under negotiation or consideration in the 
field of intellectual property in the WTO, including TRIPS and Public Health, access to genetic resources and protection of traditional knowledge, a nd protection of geographical indications.  The 
aim is to provide information and an opportunity  for an exchange of views among countries of the 
region in order to facilitate their effective participation in the areas which are subject to ongoing 
negotiations and discussions.  With regard to TRIPS and public health, the workshops supported 
participating countries in the implementation and use of the TRIPS provisions and flexibilities.  
Canada offered the perspective of a developed WTO Member on all subjects that were discussed. 
__________