12. Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation / Intellectual Property Rights Expert Group APEC / IPEG
Background
What Is APEC?
The Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) is a forum comprising 21 Member States, including New Zealand, established in 1989 in response to the growing interdependence among Asia-Pacific economies. Its goal is to advance Asia-Pacific economic dynamism and sense of community. For further details on APEC, please visit the APEC Secretariat's website at Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation .
What Is IPEG?
In 1996 APEC created the Intellectual Property Rights Experts' Group ("IPEG") to undertake work related to intellectual property.
The IPEG's objectives are to:
- Encourage discussion on intellectual property policy;
- Survey and exchange information on the current status of intellectual property rights protection and administrative systems;
- Study measures for the effective enforcement of intellectual property rights;
- Fully implement the Agreement on Trade-related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) no later than 2000; and
- Facilitate technical co-operation to that end.
Consideration of Traditional Knowledge
In March 2002 Hong Kong, China hosted the APEC Symposium on Traditional Medicine. Expert speakers from various countries and international organisations spoke about the role and social and intellectual property aspects of traditional medicine in the 21st century.
The symposium focussed on the economic opportunities that could be derived from the commercialisation of traditional medicine and the concerns related to governing the trade of traditional medicines. To a large degree the Symposium focussed on Chinese medicine. The symposium report stated that:
Despite the existence of the entrenched pharmaceutical systems based on synthetic drugs, it is foreseeable that many traditional medicinal products will enter the international market during this decade. Through a modern marketing approach, the traditional knowledge sector can be developed to become a value added industry for both developed and developing economies as part of their strategies to support economic growth.6
Future Work
The symposium made two recommendations: that States assess the option of compiling databases of traditional knowledge; and make proactive use of existing intellectual property protection to help create a viable traditional medicinal product and service industry. This recommendation was influenced by China based on its experience in the traditional medicine industry. They also commented that patent protection is regarded as the most effective way to protect traditional medicine under the existing intellectual property framework.
All Member States were also encouraged to be involved in the work of the World Intellectual Property Organisation Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property, Genetic resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore.
New Zealand Position
New Zealand supports the work of the APEC/IPEG, and will continue to be involved in the work on the WIPOIGC as recommended. WIPO to date, has been engaged in work on the compilation of inventories of traditional knowledge related periodicals and databases as a means of providing protection for traditional knowledge by reducing the likelihood that patents would be granted for inventions based on traditional knowledge. New Zealand has raised concerns about the risks of documentation initiatives, for example the risk of making traditional knowledge more accessible and traditional knowledge becoming prior art preventing indigenous people from registering a patent for an invention based on traditional knowledge.
The Ministry acknowledges the APEC/IPEG website for the information used in preparing this fact sheet. For more information please visit their website at Intellectual Property Rights Experts Group (IPEG) Intellectual Property Resource .
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