Original news and analysis on international IP policy
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline has taken a stance on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), welcoming most of its provisions, but requesting a harmonised approach for implementation, because the much-debated agreement would leave a lot of space for differing national implementations. GSK…
The Executive Board session of the World Health Organization ended early on Monday after a week of discussions that settled some issues but left some others for the next governing meeting of the organisation in May, with much to do until then. The WHO is facing a significant gap in its budget and a programme of reforms is brewing.
Today, the Global Fund sought to settle concerns about fraud involving millions of dollars it provided to several African countries. The fund had been strongly supported by developed countries for its direct model of providing funds for health work on the ground in developing countries, and evidence of corruption among recipients drew international attention.
Markus Kummer, the long-time Swiss diplomat who has headed the secretariat to the multistakeholder Internet Governance Forum, has become vice president for public policy at the Internet Society in Geneva. The IGF was an outgrowth of the 2003-2005 World Summit…
The recently completed Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is not fully consistent with European Union law and goes beyond international law in some of its aspects, concluded a group of intellectual property law experts from universities in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France and Spain.
World Health Organization members yesterday struck a compromise allowing a Swiss industry representative to sit on a committee selecting proposals for research and developing financing for neglected diseases, disregarding the fact that he is author of one of the proposals. Special safeguards were added to prevent undue influence, but questions remain for some about a conflict of interest.
World Health Organization members today raised strong concerns that a working group they mandated last May to address problems with WHO policy on counterfeit and substandard medicines has yet to be formed - with four months remaining before it must report back to members.
One delegation called for a halt to WHO activities on anti-counterfeiting until the outcome of the working group is accepted by member states.
For many experts in internet governance the future of the multi-stakeholder model is the top issue in 2011. The participation of governments, technical experts, industry and civil society in discussions about how best to organise - and regulate - society on the net is at stake.
With the World Health Organization director general’s term of office ending next year, WHO members today set up a drafting group to try to reconcile divergent views on the process leading to the election. Some countries are in favour of a principle of geographical rotation - citing over 60 years of no representation from their regions, while some other countries claimed rotation could override more important selection criteria such as expertise and experience, and could endanger the organisation’s future.
A seemingly overworked and impoverished World Health Organization opened its Executive Board session today with calls for reform amid deep concerns about its financial future. Meanwhile, dissension arose over an industry representative named by the WHO secretariat to a new research and development funding working group, sparking the WHO director general to cast doubt on the role of industry in such groups.