From the 66th Assemblies of WIPO: Echoes of IGC’s Uncertain Future
The 66th Annual General Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO-GA), which were held in Geneva from July 8-17, 2025, have just concluded. This annual event is a statutory forum for WIPO Member States to review the progress of the WIPO’s specific committees, programs of work, and operations of treaties. It is also about taking stock of the organizational health of WIPO as a special United Nations body, from its human resource, financial, ethical, and various other matters to ensure that WIPO sustains its primary mandate of promoting the protection of intellectual property throughout the world.
Of special interest to ABS Canada in the 66th Assemblies is the report of the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC). The report reflected the unanimous decision of the IGC at its 51st session, which recommended the renewal of the Committee’s mandate for the next biennium under a scaled-down program of work. While the WIPO-GA approved the recommendation as expected, ABS Canada and indeed many observers remain concerned about an evident and hardened schism across geopolitical lines that reflect serious concerns over the future work of the WIPO-IGC, which is now focused on textual negotiations on traditional knowledge (TK) and Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) in the aftermath of the 2024 WIPO Treaty on Genetic Resources and Associated Traditional knowledge (GR-ATK Treaty). A few highlights and signposts regarding the future of the WIPO-IGC in the next biennium was reflected in Member States’ remarks during the deliberations on the WIPO-IGC Report. The WIPO-IGC Report was tabled as document WO/GA/58/8 and titled Report on the Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) pursuant to “Agenda Item 12(v) Report of WIPO Committees” of the 66th Assemblies. Deliberations on the WIPO-IGC Report opened on Friday July 11 and concluded on Monday July 14, 2025.
Lingering Contention Over the Nature of the Anticipated Instrument
The renewed mandate of the IGC for the 2026-27 biennium requires that Member States continue negotiations “without prejudging the nature of the outcome(s)”. Ironically, major negotiation blocs are invested in a prejudged outcome. For example, in their interventions, non-demandeur countries insist on their preference for soft law and non-binding two-track instruments; specifically, one instrument on TK and another on TCEs, with each to be based on a litany of measures as opposed to fundamentally based on rights. On the contrary, the majority of demandeur States and Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs) prefer a consolidated, single, binding, rights-based instrument at par with the GR-ATK Treaty.
Evidence-based Approach: Objective or Red Herring Strategy?
The approved mandate prescribes a working method that includes “an evidence-based approach with actual examples” of national and regional experiences involving an inclusive range of stakeholders (e.g., States, IPLCs, industries, etc.) regarding the protection of TK and TCEs. There is a clear division among Member States regarding how and the extent to which the issue of evidence could advance or stall the work of the IGC. While demandeurs do not object to the use of evidence, they are apprehensive that it has become a decoy over the years for non-demandeurs to stall progress through a superfluous search for sponsored evidence catered only to the interests of industry and industrialized countries. The mandate struck a balance by requiring that the quest for evidence through “[s]tudies or additional activities are not to delay progress or establish any preconditions for negotiations”.
No Consensus Regarding Progress
Notwithstanding the unanimous nature of the Committee’s recommendations, Members States noted in their remarks that before this consensus, there were two failed IGC sessions in a row (IGC 49 and IGC 50). Indeed, there was a shared impression amongst delegations that the IGC 51 had no option than to pragmatically forge a consensus in order to buy the time to ensure that the Committee’s mandate stood a chance of renewal by the 66th WIPO-GA. There was a palpable sense among delegations that intervened at the 66th WIPO-GA that progress stalled in the IGC after the GR-ATK Treaty. As the Nigerian Delegation observed, it appears that after the GR-ATK Treaty, the IGC risks relapsing into a talk shop rather than gaining momentum.
Future of TK in WIPO
The Delegation of Iran made an urgent plea for transitioning the IGC into a Standing Committee at WIPO so that TK and TCEs would not be subject to the periodic politically charged debate over mandate renewal. According to Iran, that transition should be one of the effects of the GR-ATK Treaty. Although this sentiment resonates with non-demandeurs, it was also clear that more than one year after the GR-ATK Treaty, only two African States (Malawi and Gambia) have ratified it, with 13 States shy of the 15 required for the Treaty to come into force. Expectedly, the coming into force of the GR-ATK Treaty would provide the urgency for a Standing Committee on TK and related matters at WIPO.
Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities
The nagging issue of the participation of IPLCs in the work of the WIPO-IGC did not escape the intervention of most Member States. If there is one issue they agree on, it is the need for the effective participation of IPLCs in the WIPO-IGC. This was aptly articulated in the intervention of the Nigerian Delegation, which noted: “If, as all Member States agree, that the IGC derives its legitimacy from the active participation of IPLCs, it is a contradiction that WIPO cannot guarantee their attendance except on charitable basis through the voluntary fund”. Meanwhile, during the 66th Assemblies, Australia was the only country that announced a donation to the voluntary fund.
Conclusion
The 66th WIPO-GA’s verbatim endorsement of the recommendation for the renewal of the IGC mandate for the 2026-27 biennium comes with some apprehension for the future of the IGC. It was clear from the stance of Member States that, rather than provide a momentum for the IGC’s work, the GR-ATK Treaty appears to have hardened the opposition by non-demandeurs against the effective protection of TK, TCEs and GRs. More worrisome were the dispositions of the United States and Japan –the latter as a coordinator of Group B (industrialized countries bloc)– which did not disguise their reservations on the progress made on TK pursuant to the GR-ATK Treaty and developments in other fora. The next biennium will certainly be a litmus test for the future of the IGC, even as the idea of a Diplomatic Conference on the remaining subject matters (TK and TCEs) appear too distant (mentioned only once) in the text of the 66th Assemblies’ decision on Agenda Item 12(v).
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