WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONTN/IP/W/3
24 June 2002
(02-3488)
Council for Trade-Related Aspects
of Intellectual Property Rights
Special SessionOriginal:  English
COMMUNICATION FROM BULGARIA, CYPRUS, THE CZECH REPUBLIC, THE
EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND THEIR MEMBER STATES, GEORGIA, HUNGARY,
ICELAND, MALTA, MAURITIUS, MOLDOVA, NIGERIA, ROMANIA, THE SLOVAK
REPUBLIC, SLOVENIA, SRI LANKA, SWITZERLAND AND TURKEY
The following document was received on 19 June 2002 from the Permanent Delegation of the
European Commission on behalf of the delegations of Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, the
European Communities and their Member States, Georgia, Hungary, Iceland, Malta, Mauritius,
Moldova, Nigeria, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Switzerland and Turkey, withthe request that it be circulated to the Special Session of the Council for TRIPS.
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Negotiations Relating to the Establishment of a Multilateral System of
Notification and Registration of Geographical Indications
1.  Pursuant to Article 23.4 of the TRIPS Agreement, WTO Members shall negotiate in the
TRIPS Council, "the establishment of a multilateral system of notification and registration of
geographical indications".
2.  Paragraph 18 of the Doha Ministerial Declaration proposes that negotiations relating to such a
system shall be completed by the Fifth Ministerial Conference.
3.  Compliance with the mandate of Article 23.4 of the TRIPS Agreement shall entail the
establishment of a mechanism that helps producers and consumers to avail themselves of, and
administrations to implement, the legal protection enshrined in Section 3 of Part II of the TRIPS
Agreement on "geographical indications".
4.  Facilitating the legal protection as requested by the TRIPS Agreement must carry effects
going beyond the mere reproduction of a list of names for informative purposes.
5.  To date, only the proposals made by the EC and their Member States (IP/C/W/107/Rev.1) and
Hungary (IP/C/W/255) make a genuine attempt to fulfil this requirement.
6.  Other delegations are encouraged to work towards the establishment of a multilateral system
that constitutes a meaningful instrument towards a more effective protection for geographical
indications.  The objectives sought by the aforementioned two proposals are fully endorsed.
7.  Support is also lent to the views expressed in document JOB(02)/70 on the issues set out in
the Note by the Chairperson (JOB(02)/49) for discussion and consideration of the Special Session of
28 June 2002.
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