MULTILATERAL SYSTEM OF NOTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS FOR WINES AND SPIRITS

Report by the Chairman, Ambassador Alfredo Suescum (Panama)

1.  This report on my consultations with interested delegations in the context of the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS is submitted on my own responsibility and is without prejudice to the positions of delegations and to the outcome of the negotiations.^[1]

2.  At the informal meeting of the Trade Negotiations Committee (TNC) held on 6 February 2014, the Director General shared with delegations his request that the Chairs of Negotiating Groups start a dialogue with Members on issues that may be able to be taken forward, bearing in mind six parameters as a guide for discussions. These six parameters were, in summary: (1) preserving development as a central pillar of Members' efforts; (2) focusing on doability, balancing realism and ambition, with no-one being asked to do the impossible; (3) recognising that the issues are interconnected so that they must be tackled together; (4) staying creative and open minded; (5) being inclusive and transparent; and (6) maintaining a sense of urgency.

3.  Following this request by the Director-General, I held consultations with interested individual Members and groups on 10 and 11 March 2014, following an open invitation extended to all Members to meet with me. Some delegations also contributed comments by telephone and e-mail.  I also held an informal open-ended meeting on 1 April 2014.

4.  In these consultations, I asked Members for their views on how to take forward the work of the TRIPS Special Session, and on how to reflect this process in a post-Bali work programme on the remaining Doha Development Agenda issues. In their responses to these questions, I requested that Members focus on the mandate of the TRIPS Special Session as set out in the first sentence of paragraph 18 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration (WT/MIN(01)/DEC/1), which reads as follows: