At the Diplomatic Conference held on May 13 - 24, 2024, WIPO member states approved a groundbreaking new Treaty related to intellectual property (IP), genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge, marking a historic breakthrough that capped decades of negotiations. (Negotiations for this Treaty began at WIPO in 2001, initiated in 1999 with a proposal by Colombia, where discussions were notable for their inclusion of Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities.)
This is the first WIPO Treaty to address the interface between intellectual property, genetic resources, and traditional knowledge and the first WIPO Treaty to include provisions specifically for Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities. The Treaty, once it enters into force with 15 contracting parties, will establish in international law a new disclosure requirement for patent applicants whose inventions are based on genetic resources and/or associated traditional knowledge.
² What is a Diplomatic Conference?
A WIPO diplomatic conference is typically convoked by a decision of the WIPO General Assembly, which defines the objective of the conference and the general conditions for participation. Diplomatic conferences are governed by their own rules of procedure and customary international law. Accordingly, it is the conference itself that adopts the treaty and a final act.
² What Does the Treaty Do?
Broadly, where a claimed invention in a patent application is based on genetic resources, each contracting party shall require applicants to disclose the country of origin or source of the genetic resources. Where the claimed invention in a patent application is based on traditional knowledge associated with genetic resources, each contracting party shall require applicants to disclose the Indigenous Peoples or local community, as applicable, who provided the traditional knowledge.
² What are Genetic Resources and associated Traditional Knowledge?
Genetic resources are contained in, for example, medicinal plants, agricultural crops, and animal breeds. While genetic resources themselves cannot be directly protected as intellectual property, inventions developed using them acan, most often through a patent.
Some genetic resources are also associated with traditional knowledge through their use and conservation by Indigenous Peoples as well as local communities, often over generations. This knowledge is sometimes used in scientific research and, as such, may contribute to the development of a protected invention.
² Which countries have already implemented such a disclosure requirement?
As far as we are aware, disclosure requirements related to genetic resources (and often associated traditional knowledge) have as of March 2024 been implemented in 33 countries and regional organizations.
Individual countries: Belgium, Brazil, Burundi, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Namibia, Norway, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Samoa, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, Vanuatu, Viet Nam, and Zambia).
² Who can become a party to the new instrument?
Any Member State of WIPO may become a party to the new instrument. Further, the governing body of the instrument, the Assembly, can admit intergovernmental organizations to become parties under several conditions.
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