Committee on Development and Intellectual Property, First Session (March 3 to 7, 2008)

The first session of the Committee on Development and Intellectual Property (CDIP) took place from March 3 to 7, 2008. The Committee was attended by 99 Member States, 7 intergovernmental organizations and 31 non-governmental Organizations.

As this was the first meeting of the new Committee, Member States first adopted the Rules of Procedure that would guide the functioning of the committee thereafter.

The Committee agreed that the initial working document, prepared by the Chairman, Ambassador Trevor Clarke of Barbados, in consultation with the Regional Coordinators, Member States and the WIPO Secretariat, would be used as the basis for discussions during the first session of the Committee. The document included a preliminary implementation report in respect of the 19 adopted recommendations that are for immediate implementation (as decided by the 2007 General Assembly). In addition, the document also included a draft work program for the implementation of the other 26 recommendations.

During the first session of the CDIP, the Committee considered recommendations 1, 2, 5, 8, 9 and 10. It is to be noted that recommendation 1 belongs to the group of 19 recommendations for immediate implementation and recommendations 2,5,8,9 and 10 belong to the group of 26, which would need an assessment of the human and financial resource requirements.

Member States further agreed that the Chair would organize informal consultations between the first and second sessions of the CDIP, so as to continue consideration of the work program for implementation of the adopted recommendations.