WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONIP/C/W/395
10 December 2002
(02-6822)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property RightsOriginal:  English
PROPOSED REPORT FROM THE COUNCIL FOR TRIPS TO THE TNC
REGARDING ARTICLE 23 OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT
Issues Related to The Extension of The Protection of Geographical Indications Provided
for in Article 23 to Products other than Wines and Spirits
Communication from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Colombia,
the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras,
New Zealand, Panama and the United States
The Secretariat has received the following communication on 29 November 2002 with the
request that it be circulated to Members.
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It is proposed that the TRIPS Counc il convey to the TNC the following:
(a) Since the Ministerial Conference in Doha, the TRIPS Council has discussed the
issues related to the extension of the protection of geographical indications provided
for in Article 23 to products other than wines and spirits.
(b) These discussions have not led to a consensus to recommend initiation of negotiations
regarding such extension.  It is clear from the discussions that a substantial number of
Members oppose extension negotiations for several reasons, including, but not
limited to, the fact that there has been no demonstration that existing protection forgeographical indications under Article 22 of the TRIPS Agreement is not sufficient.
In addition, there are objections to the burdens that extension would impose on
governments, the unwarranted costs to producers and consumers and the imbalance
resulting from the fact that the relevant geographical indications of a few Members
would number in the hundreds, while the majority of Members have few, if any, suchgeographical indications.  Finally, it is not clear that all Members have fully
implemented existing standards of protection under Article 22.
(c) Given that the TRIPS Council has had exhaustive discussion on the issues related to
extension of geographical indications for products other than wines and spirits and noconsensus has developed in support of recommending to the Trade Negotiating
Committee that negotiations be undertaken on extension, we recommend that the
TRIPS Council advise the Trade Negotiating Committee that the Council has
completed its discussion and that no further action be taken.
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