IRELAND SHARES EU CONCERNS ON WHO SECRETARIAT AND

UNCLAS DUBLIN 001378 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EB AND IO STATE PASS TO USTR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON ETRD KIPR WTRO EI SUBJECT: IRELAND SHARES EU CONCERNS ON WHO SECRETARIAT AND IP REF: STATE 187542 Ireland shares the EU Commission/Finnish Presidency view that the World Health Organization (WHO) Secretariat should not encroach upon intellectual property (IP) issues outside the WHO mandate, according to Michael English, Department of Enterprise, Trade, and Employment (DETE) Intellectual Property Unit Principal Officer, to whom Pol/Econ Chief delivered reftel demarche on November 30. English noted that Commission/Finnish Presidency representatives would articulate this view at the December 4-8 meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation, and Intellectual Property, in which Ireland would not take part. He elaborated that EU representatives would make explicit that the WHO Secretariat should respect EU Member States' IP obligations in other contexts, specifically, under the TRIPS Agreement. English expected, however, that the EU line would not focus as sharply as the U.S. position on the IP provisions of FTAs. He added that DETE and the Irish Department of Health and Children had no disagreement on Irish support for the EU view. FOLEY