Singapore was represented at the 11th WIPO IGC on GRTKF held on 3-12 July 2007 in Geneva by Senior Assistant Director/Legal Counsel Adrian Chiew of IPOS and First Secretary Ms Koong Pai Ching of the Permanent Mission of Singapore to the United Nations - Geneva.
During the IGC discussion on Genetic Resources, Singapore made an intervention that a win-win solution must be formulated in order for all stakeholders, regardless of development status, to benefit from the global array of Genetic Resources (GR), Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Folklore.
Such a solution will on one hand secure the interests of providers of GR and TK, and yet, on the other hand, ensure that the patents system continues to operate efficiently for all users.
As a means towards a win-win solution, Singapore proposed a framework based on the following concepts to take into account the concerns of all IGC stakeholders:
To secure the interests of providers of GR and TK:
- Providers of GR and TK should have a fair and equitable share in the benefits arising from the use of their GR and TK; and
- Providers of GR and TK require a system to facilitate easy identification of whether there has been prior informed consent and benefits sharing with them.
On the part of the patent system, the patent system must continue to encourage new and innovative research and development involving GR and TK. In this regard:
- Current procedures for patent applications should not be made more cumbersome; and
- Protection and commercial exploitation of patents involving GR and TK should not be hindered.
Singapore's intervention generated interest amongst the IGC delegates. A delegation stated in its own intervention later that it found the Singapore intervention to be of assistance. Other IGC delegates also informally made comments that the intervention was balanced.