2013 WIPO Assemblies

       Meetings of the Assemblies of the Member States of WIPO (the 2013 WIPO Assemblies) were held from September 23 to October 3, 2013 in Geneva Switzerland. 186 Member States joined the Assemblies and reviewed WIPO’s program, budget and other issues for 2014/15 biennium. The Assemblies ended with agreement on many points on its agenda, but without reaching agreement on some important points, which have now been referred for decision to December 2013 in an extraordinary session of the Assemblies.

       The Assemblies have reached consensuses mainly on: the convening of a Diplomatic Conference for the Adoption of a Revised Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications in 2015; the procedures and process for the appointment of the Director General in 2014; the regulations and rules improving WIPO’s internal justice mechanisms, etc.

       The Director General Francis Gurry called for better linkages at the Assemblies between developing-world creators and the worldwide online marketplace to get the works and performances more easily into global markets. He also outlined two projects to help link these creators with consumers worldwide. The projects would seek to develop a new voluntary quality-assurance standard for collective-management organizations, while enhancing their IT systems for management of data. Mr. Gurry said “these projects offer exciting prospects for contributing to a vibrant and truly global marketplace for creative works and for assisting the developing world to translate its cultural and creative assets into commercial assets in that marketplace.”